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18- But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
Daniel Globig Sen. Reflection YMI480 Prof. Brian Kono Weekly Article 9.0 11.2.13 o o o o o o Title of Article: Stratification and Social Class: Urban and Suburban Lifestyles Author: John J. Macionis Vincent N. Parrillo Source: Book Cities and Urban Life (5th Edition) Date of Article: 2010 Length: 30 pages Subject/Issue: Cities and Urban Life

Summary (1,517 words): This is more informational, rather than story-driven or application-driven. Cities are much more socially diverse than suburbs. Yet, sociology shows us how our thoughts or assumptions may not always be correct especially since cities in the U.S. and Canada are home to various sociological classes, races, and ethnicities. As with the suburbs, there is no single stereotype to accurately describe a city. It is important to recognize race, ethnicity, gender, social differences, and social inequality to get a picture of the North American city in which some urbanites experience the good life, while others contend with a host of problems inadequate housing, poor education, and high intensities of criminality. Every country is socially stratified. Social stratification is defined as the hierarchical ranking within a society of various social class groups according to wealth, power, and prestige. Max Weber suggested Karl Marxs two-class view was too simplistic and developed a continuum ranging from high to low. Socioeconomic status (SES) refers to a composite ranking based on various dimensions of social inequality. W. Lloyd Warner performed a comprehensive study using the social stratification, emphasizing the reputational method in which people compared others to themselves in terms of status prominence on the existence of six-tier systems. Since Warners research three generations of social scientists have studied manifestations in all types of communities. Upper Class: The main distinction between Warners upper-upper and lower-upper classes was essentially that of old money and new money that is, of either multigenerational, inherited wealth (Jay Rockefeller), or first-generation, self-earned wealth (like Bill Gates). Old-money and new-money persons have a social divide, and seldom have membership in the same clubs and organizations. The upper class live ostentatiously in many of the same right social events, belonging to the same private schools, clubs and organizations, supporting charities and arts, and vacationing in the same elite resorts. Upper-class women are in charge of hosting entertainments at home for quests and are often the individuals responsible for often volunteer work for

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charitable and civic organizations particularly local and nationally. Men often are active more in community service organizations. Working Class: Sometimes referred to as the lower-middle class, this one-third of society yields family income below the national average, about $30,000 to $50,000 annually. There are little means to accrue wealth, and are especially vulnerable in financial crisis. They are the classic Marxian model of workers in closely supervised jobs with little creativity and over which they have little control. There are fewer benefits given, and about one-third of their children go to college. Both genders are likely to restrict their outside activities to church-related or neighborhood association activities. Lower Class: About 20 percent of the population is comprises of poor whites as well as poor racial and ethnic minorities. Some of them are the so-called working poor holding jobs which help them to just get by financially. Located in inner cities and rural areas, about 40 percent own their own homes. Many have no medical insurance, so a serious illness or long-term unemployment could easily spiral the need for government assistance. About 12 to 13 percent of the population receives government assistance such as welfare. Men and women have distinctly separate social worlds. Women are more likely to be involved in organizational activities, usually the church, and interact in more confined areas, whereas men will more often be out and about, congregating with friends to drink, talk, and enjoy sports. Some urban neighborhoods have extreme levels of poverty and unemployment, called hyperghettos. These have 67 percent unemployment rates, in relation to overall national 11 to 12 percent rates. Other characteristics of these neighborhoods, which contain mostly rental units, are low levels of education and job skills as well as high levels of single-parent households and social isolation hyperghettos are almost always racial and/or ethnic minority neighborhoods (I will need to read this next chapter about this topic.) The disparity between rich and poor is not simply a matter of income differences, but a difference in the proportionate share of total income that each socioeconomic group possesses and how each groups income situation fluctuates annually. Since the United States has the most unequal distribution of wealth, of all industrialized nations, it is of no surprise the top two-fifths earned almost three-fourths of all income leaving the lowest 20 percent of households to draw only 3.4 of the total. Since 1968, the gap between the most affluent Americans and everyone else has been steadily widening. There is a difference of $13,239 between urban and suburban dwellers, which gives us a clear view of the greater financial resources available to many of those living beyond the city limits. Because home equity is such an important element of wealth for so many people, the housing and mortgage crisis of 2007-2009 has been a major factor in creating not just a larger economic crisis but also one that negatively impacted on the wealth of many Americans. Caused, in part by unscrupulous mortgage lenders and brokers and unregulated transactions in mortgage-backed securities, as well as buyers who didnt act responsibly [I do not agree there should be more regulation. Too many people assume there should be extreme amounts of regulation though, my previous boss, VP at Flagstars Credit Department (for mortgage companies), thought there should be internal Be all things to all people

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Jer.18- But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
adjustments but not those implemented by outside persons in the government, assuming they know what is best. Still, there are many people who extended credit to those who should have never been given such amounts of illogical debt-leverage.] It would be a serious mistake to conclude that (from the information and statistics laid out) the presence of immigrants translates into poor neighborhoods. Actually, hundreds of thousands have educational levels, job skills, and income to settle into middle-class neighborhoods. [If I even move to Chicago and have a youth ministry there, I will use the following information.] Chicagos Gold Coast is the second-wealthiest urban neighborhood in the United States, after New Yorks Upper East Side. This area mostly consists of old money, with luxury high-rise apartment buildings on Lake Shore Drive. Middle Class Urban Neighborhoods: Although middle-class presence is not proportionally as high in most large cities, there is still some significance. Actually, entire blocks sometimes evolve into middle-class communities via gentrification displacing lower-class individuals who can no longer afford the costs of living in the area. As the manufacturing city-centers declined, beginning in the 1970s, caused a rapid growth of the service sector which generated well-paying, professional positions bringing young urban professionals, that is, yuppies. [This reminds me of a recent LiveWork Detroit Conference I attended.] With large numbers of black graduates, there is a group referred to as buppies, or black urban professionals. Once yuppies, dinks, and buppies renovated older loft buildings, upgrading the neighborhoods in New York, their lifestyle prompted the gentrification process. David Brooks sees this new social class as a blend of the bourgeois (the successful capitalist middle class) and bohemians (those with unconventional appearance and behavior), which he calls Bobos. They work hard to accomplish but do not play ostentatiously, rather can relax in less lavish manners. [I see my future in some possible terms of bohemian, because I hope to become all things to all people, and bridge between social classes keeping one foot in each door but never becoming comfortable.] These members struggle with the balance of equality and privilege. The biggest tension is between worldly success and inner virtue. These educated elites dont despair; rather they find a way to have both, reconciling the opposites. Marx assumed the class inevitably conflict, but sometimes there is simply a blur and it becomes hard to tell if youre living in a world of hippies (hipsters) or stockbrokers. [However, I do not want to settle for materialism in the way Wesley would discourage.] Mixed income urban neighborhoods might arise from intervention. However, the key to a sustained mixed-income neighborhood is the desire and ability of residents to remain. For low-income urban neighborhoods, the trapped poor have been left behind in the inner city; the future is bleak and lacking areas of necessary schooling and communication skills result in unemployment rates as high as 80 percent. High rates of substance abuse, single parents, infant mortality, violent crime, and welfare dependency also are common.

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Homeless: There is no stereotype which fits the homeless; in fact, recent decades have shown a new type of homeless person. Many people are pushed out of their homes simply because of the process of gentrification, [so I would have to be careful to not buy rental properties under the assumption of helping when actually causing gentrification by updating homes too much]. Emergency shelter situations improved in Cleveland, L.A., Miami, and Phoenix but worsened in 83 percent of other major cities many forced to turn away homeless persons. Minority Suburbs: Interestingly enough, the black migration which took place into Compton (in L.A.) was not an example of ghetto sprawl, but actually the manifestation of many blacks dreams of home-ownership. Blacks wanted to create their own suburban dream. Today, Compton is a minority community, more than half Hispanics and twofifths black. It currently suffers from higher-than-average unemployment, poverty, and crime rates. Reflection Questions (8-10): 1. How can I connect the abilities of one class to meet the needs of another class? 2. It seems as though there is a minute amount of men involved in church activities and organizational charities so how can I get more men to be involved in a youth ministry? (Through the women?) 3. How can I retain my focus on the poor without getting distracted too much by the wealthy, or allowing my focus to accidentally revolve around the affluence of the wealthy instead staring into the affluence of God? How can I practically keep myself from becoming too involved in the church of power, and instead the church of piety (History of Christianity)? 4. Wesley believed we should live with the raw essentials, but what might this look like in the business world especially if I am to maintain a certain image of power or leadership? Who are some good people I could learn from who balanced playing the game of business, while still being faithful with Gods finances? 5. What am I supposed to do to meet the needs of the homeless if I am looking after the safety of my own family as well, and I also do not want to end up with missing assets in my own home? 6. If I live in a place like Farmington Hills, or an upscale area commuting to the inner-city youth center and outreach what are the pros and cons of doing this? 7. If I live in a place like Highland Park, or a ghetto or hyperghetto location commuting to a finance or business job in the opposite direction what are the pros and cons of doing this, as well as the risks? 8. Fred Adams, a Wesleyan missionary to the Philippines, prayed over me this past summer, and he said I need to keep my eyes open to how Satan will send women to take me down in the inner-city. How can I be made accountable since there are countless single-parent families, numerous women who have

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Jer.18- But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
more of a tendency to be involved in such charities as shown in the statistics given in this text? Application and Action: I am looking at accounting and finance positions in Farmington Hills, and various upper-class areas around Detroit, as well as lower-to-middle-class areas; my goal is to come up with an approach as the Holy Spirit pours wisdom in me to connect upper-class, middle-class, and lower-class persons whereby a ministry is formed which reaches out to the needs of youth in general. It seems as though women have a particular power in all social classes to be involved in many charities and organizations. Since the upper-class men tend to be closer to home in their communitys involvement, I will need to focus on living in an area which is local to them enough to connect the youth center, probably within 30 minutes or so (drive time) of upper level residences. Since lower-class men typically are separate in their related function to women sports, drinking, fun I will have to ask the Spirit to help me wisely and strategically find methods of connecting some of them to events in the youth center. Perhaps, there could be particular outreach events (think Duffy Robbins funnel system but in terms of offering adults to be involved) such as Superbowl events, or other less confined events (since women are more apt to be involved in confined areas, whereas men are not). Given the trait of hyperghettos consistently containing mostly rental units, I will need to strategize as to how I will have a real-estate company (as a side business venture). My dad told me to talk to Dr. Wallaces brother, Mark Wallace. I know Dr. Wallace liked me when I had him as a professor for foundations of leadership, so I will recall some class memories as a starting conversation. I will need to spread my risk as a quintessential hedging, by having some higher-risk properties and lower-risk properties. However, I would like to think primarily in terms of criterion for purchasing each property based off of how it will assume risk, in what relation is it to my neighborhood of outreach interest, and what business benefits will be gained by owning in a particular area. I will need to research methods of being most helpful to single-parent families, so I can meet the felt needs and real needs with even more surreal-fantastic needs. In History of Christianity class, I have learned how early Christianity was mostly started by well-to-do individuals. And most of the spiritual persons asking all of the questions, philosophers, were wealthy individuals who were surviving well enough to be more concerned with larger questions. Then, Christianity appealed to the poor often by the giving of security and the promise of the meek inheritance.

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Jer.18- But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
Action Steps: Learn the current make-up of the city I live in and minister in. Then, I need to learn the history of the city. Then, I need to project and estimate the future problems, dreams, and actual reality outcomes. I need to be all things to all people, keeping in mind the prima (past), ora (present), and domani (future) triquetra of making a difference by the trinity of wisdom. Quotes or Stats: 1. In regards to lower class systems: Women are more likely to be involved in organizational activities, usually the church, and interact in more confined areas, whereas men will more often be out and about, congregating with friends to drink, talk, and enjoy sports. 2. Key terms: a. Bobos slang for those living a lifestyle mixture of the bourgeoisie and the bohemians b. Buppies slang for black, young (late twenties to early forties) urban professionals c. Dinks dual income, no kids d. Ghettos segregated neighborhoods with high unemployment and poverty rates e. Hyperghettos same as ghetto, but extreme version f. Inner-city neighborhoods high-density, low-income areas with substandard housing located near the central business district g. Reputational method subjective input in which people compare others to themselves in terms of status h. Slums low-income neighborhoods with substandard housing i. Social stratification the hierarchical ranking within a society of various social class groups according to wealth, power, and prestige j. Socioeconomic status (SES) k. Yuppies slang young urban professionals l. Bourgeois a term referring to the middle class, such as shopkeepers, traders, bureaucrats, government officials, and people engaged in commercial ventures m. Bohemian(s) (p.280) - a person who has informal and unconventional social habits, esp. an artist or writer; a community of persons with artistic or literary tastes who adopt manners and mores conspicuously different from those expected or approved of by the majority of society. n. Sprawl spread-out or low-density residential development beyond the edge of services and employment 3. In 2007, more U.S. city residents 16.5 percent, or nearly one in six lived in poverty compared with those living outside central cities, where the poverty rate was 9.0 percent (1 in 11). In non-metropolitan areas, 15.4 percent (one in seven) lived in poverty. Be all things to all people

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Jer.18- But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.
4. More than two-fifths of the foreign-born (44 percent) in the United States live in a central city. 5. Four in five New Yorkers are not poor 6. Chicago It is important to notice changing times, such as shifting residences. An Eastern European and Irish Catholic neighborhood for generations, Gage Park is now about four-fifths Hispanic. It experience a 10 percent drop in its proportion of high school graduates by 2000, and many of the newcomers had difficulty speaking English. In fact 36 percent of those aged 25 years or older had less than a ninth-grade education, and another 18 percent had a level higher than that but were not high school graduates. During this 10-year interval, per-capita income in the neighborhood decreased by 31 percent. 7. Los Angeles One of the poorest and most densely populated neighborhoods in L.A. is Pico-Union: Landlords subdivided rented out [and as a result,] the neighborhood became a place characterized by overcrowding and substandard housing conditions now home to about 39,000 people, mostly Central Americans and Mexicans 88 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian, 4 percent black, and 3 percent non-Hispanic white 8. Los Angeles Pico-Union: In 2000, per-capita income was $9,829, compared to $20,671 in Los Angeles as a whole. 9. Current estimates identify about 23 percent of all homeless as families with children, 58 percent as single men, 18 percent as single women, and 1 percent as unaccompanied youth. Sixteen percent are mentally ill, while 37 percent are substance abusers (U.S. Conference of Mayors 2008). 10. Each year, more than 800,000 children and youth experience homelessness, at least one-fight of them do not attend school The average age [is] 6 years. One-half of homeless children attend three different schools in one year, and 75 percent perform below grade level in reading. Not surprisingly, they are four times more likely to drop out of school. 11. In 2000, 49 percent of all U.S. Hispanics lived in suburbs, up from 46 percent in 1990. The 10 metropolitan areas with the most Hispanic suburbanites are in just five states: California Florida Texas Arizona and Nevada. 12. The gap between rich and poor is so pronounced that the United States has the most unequal distribution of wealth of all industrialized countries. The top quintile of the population earns about half of all income, as much as the remaining 80 percent combined, and the top 40 percent earns three-fourths of all income. Be all things to all people

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Jer.18- But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

Words: 3,166

Be all things to all people

Jer.18- But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

Words: 3,166

Be all things to all people