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Recommended: Class distinctions in america

Newman and Chen’s book “The Missing Class” is a look into the lives of people living in the United States, who are unable to get by but also are unable to be assisted in their troubles by government programs. The missing class is exactly how it’s described, a group of people who do slightly better than their impoverished counterparts, but hold no political or economic sway. The class is ignored by the masses and politicians because they aren’t penniless, but American society demands they be better off then what they are, and their situation may actually be improved if they were a little worse off and received assistance. I fortunately have never been part of poverty or the missing class, but many, if not all my friends’ families do fall under this category, and I have seen firsthand troubles that these families face, and this book just further reinforced what I have observed.
The first problem, which I believe is the most important and damaging to the missing class, is credit. Credit is one of the staples of American culture; the ability to own things you can’t afford is a very attractive to anyone, especially in a culture where possessions are status. Almost every case in the book displayed people being vastly behind on their rent, utilities, or even credit cards themselves. In the extreme case of Julia, who “has seventeen credit cards” (1) was forced to take a loan from the bank to pay off her credit, putting her into more manageable debt. Credit companies target these families because they know that they make enough to make a minimum payment which pays for interest, and little on their actual debt. This is guaranteed money for the company, by keeping the class in debt, they are almost promised generations of income flow because...

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...ave time for your actual life. This is further agitated by how the missing class is viewed; they are expected to compete at the level of the middle class, without the tools necessary to do so. With the difficulty to own nice homes, obtain a well paying job, or even get noticed socially the missing class is viewed as keeping their head above water, but in reality are sinking fast.
In conclusion I enjoyed reading the cases found in “The Missing Class”. Reading these stories reminds me why I want to major in Sociology, to attempt to help those who no one else will. I actually felt angry as I read the section with Gloria, who was passed along by medical providers until forced to be tested and the results being thyroid cancer. Adding to my frustration are her children who gave her absolute hell, and a morally deficient father who refused to help her in any way he could.

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