Trends in Socioeconomic Inequality

The concept of socioeconomic inequality is multidimensional in character (Labich, 1994, pp. 114120). Income levels, vocation, residence, possessions, and other factors influence determinations of social class. Measures of inequality views these same factors from different perspectives, and extend such measurements to additional factors such as welfare (Wolfson, 1994, pp. 353358; Stratmann, 1990, pp. 4764). Wolfson (1994, pp. 353358) reported that measures of socioeconomic equality either declined or remained unchanged from 1973 through 1981, but that since 1981 the measures of inequality have been in general decline. One outcome of this decline has been "the beginning of the disappearing of the middleclass" in the United States (Wolfson, 1994, p. 354).

An American Demographics report provided substantiation for the hypothesis that low levels of literacy are linked with poverty in the United States (The lowdown on literacy, 1994, p. 6). The relationship between literacy and poverty is illustrated in Table 1, which may be found on the following page. As the data presented in Table 1 indicate, over 40 percent of the people whose literacy levels are low are also poor (The lowdown on literacy, 1994, p. 6). Approximately tw

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rty (as opposed to total national wealth) and leisure time (to make use of the wealth of home conveniences) are applied as comparative measures, however, the United States falls well behind the developed countries of Western Europe. Conservativeleaning economists, always quick off the mark to discount any socioeconomic measures that reflect unfavorably on the United States, frequently find their explanations in conflict with one another. Robert Haveman (1993, pp. 2835) blamed the declining trend in economic inequality measures on past government policies that stifled economic growth by providing too much assistance to the poor. At about the same time, Daniel Slesnick (1993, pp. 138) was contending that official measures of poverty in the United States overstate the level of poverty within the population because the consumption benefits of the policies condemned by Haveman (1993, pp. 2835) are not sufficiently factored into the estimates. Thus, one apologist for the increase in socioeconomic inequality in the United States says that it is all the fault of the government, while a second apologist contends that socioeconomic inequality in the United States is not as bad as it appears to be. Nevertheless, 11.5 percent of Ame
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Source Topolnicki, Daniel Slesnick, American Demographics, Inequality Trends, Third World, United Luttwak, A2 Peterson, Japan USA, Low Average, OutofWedlock Births, | |, topolnicki 1992, socioeconomic inequality, 1994 pp, pp 4652, 1972 1990, topolnicki 1992 113, outofwedlock births, poverty united, 1994 6, | +----------------------+, | +----------------------+ |, found page data, source topolnicki 1992, page data table,
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