>On Sep 13, 2007, at 5:20 PM, Seth Ackerman wrote:
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>>Doug Henwood wrote:
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>>>the number of Americans who see themselves among
>>>the "have-nots" of society has doubled over the past two decades,
>>>from 17% in 1988 to 34% today. In 1988, far more Americans said that,
>>>if they had to choose, they probably were among the "haves" (59%)
>>>than the "have-nots" (17%). Today, this gap is far narrower (45%
>>>"haves" vs. 34% "have-nots").
>>>
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>>>
>>That's an extraordinary set of numbers.
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>How?
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That's the kind of question to which I imagine reponses tend to be very stable over time. It's asking people to locate themselves in the class structure, it's not a question about cyclical factors like how are your household finances doing right now.
To see the self-identified have-have not gap collapse from 42 to 11 points since 1988, a period when nothing in public discourse was encouraging people to think like this, is pretty amazing I think.
I wish there were more data points, going back further in time...
Seth