This research examines trends in measures of socioeconomic inequality in the United States. All data for this examination were obtained from published sources.
The concept of socioeconomic inequality is multidimensional in character (Labich, 1994, pp. 114 120). 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. 353 358; Stratmann, 1990, pp. 47 64). Wolfson (1994, pp. 353 358) 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 middle class" 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 two thirds of the people whose literacy levels are low did not complete a high school education, and approximately one quarter of these people are recent immigrants to the United States. By contrast, among those individuals with the highest Table 1
levels of literacy, only 10 Literacy and Poverty
percent of the individuals +----------------------------------+ | Literacy Level |
live in poverty (The lowdown | +----------------------+ | ...