American Social Class
United States
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The social structure of the United States is a vaguely defined concept which includes several commonly used term that use educational attainment, income and occupational prestige as the main determinants of class. While it is possible to create dozens of social classes within the confines of American society, most Americans employ a six or five class system. The most commonly applied class concepts used in regards to contemporary American society are:[6]
- Upper class; Those with great influence, wealth and prestige. Members of this group tend to act as the grand-conceptualizers and have tremendous influence of the nation's institutions.
- Upper middle class; The upper middle class consists of white collar professionals with advanced post-secondary educational degrees and comfortable personal incomes. Upper middle class professionals have large amounts of autonomy in the workplace and therefore enjoy high job satisfaction. In terms of income and considering the 15% figure used by Thompson, Hickey and Gilber, upper middle class professionals earn roughly $62,500 or more and tend to reside in households with six figure incomes.[3][6][11]
- (Lower) middle class; Semi-professionals, non-retail salespersons and craftsmen who have some college education. Out-sourcing tends to be a prominent problem among those in this class who often suffer from a lack of job security.[6][12] Households in this class may need two income earners to make ends meet and therefore may have household incomes rivaling the personal incomes of upper middle class professionals such as attorneys.[12]
- Working class; According to some experts such Michael Zweig, this class may constitute the majority of Americans and include those otherwise referred to as lower middle.[13] It includes blue as well as white collar workers who have relatively low personal incomes and lack college degrees with many being among the 45% of Americans who have never attended college.[6]
- Lower class; This class includes the poor, alienated and marginalized members of society. While most individuals in this class work, they commonly drift in and out of poverty throughout the year.[6]
Big Inch
A 20-minute video and a booklet documenting the historic World War II role of two pipelines long-owned and operated by affiliates of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) are available to the public in nine states beginning today.
Included in the materials relating the story of the 24-inch and 20-inch diameter pipelines respectively known as the "Big Inch" and the "Little Big Inch" are a video called "Inch Lines Go to War" and a booklet titled "The Big Inch and Little Big Inch Pipelines – The Most Amazing Government-Industry Cooperation Ever Achieved."
The video and booklet are on display in state and local libraries, state and local historical societies and state historic preservation offices in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey – the nine states traversed by the two pipelines.
"The Inch Lines were built during a period of extreme national emergency," said Robert B. Evans, president of Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT). "The lines were a major part of the U.S. war effort and represented a significant achievement in pipeline technology in terms of sheer size and scope. The Big Inch and Little Big Inch represented an outstanding accomplishment in efficient and rapid corporate organization and industry-government cooperation."
The Inch Lines were built in 1942-43 for the U.S. government by War Emergency Pipelines Inc. for the purpose of transporting crude oil from the prolific oil fields of East Texas and refined petroleum products from the Gulf Coast to refining and distribution areas near New York City and Philadelphia.
The lines served as a transportation alternative to tankers that were sunk by German submarines. The Inch Lines also supplied large volumes of export petroleum to the East Coast so that the small number of surviving tankers could meet the demands of the European war fronts with the shorter-haul distance across the Atlantic.
At the end of the war, the Inch Lines became part of the war surplus property. Formal bids were submitted in early 1947 with the winning bid going to Texas Eastern Transmission Corp. (TETCO). After the sale, the Inch Lines were converted for the transmission of natural gas. The portion of the Inch Lines currently owned by TETCO is part of a 10,300-mile pipeline system connecting Gulf Coast-area natural gas supplies with markets in the Gulf Coast, Central, Mid-Atlantic and New England states.
DEGT operates 12,000 miles of natural gas pipelines that include TETCO, Algonquin Gas Transmission Co., East Tennessee Natural Gas Co. and with other partners, Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. Together, these companies transport 8 percent of the natural gas consumed in the United States.
