Depression in Social Classes

In sociology we are watching a movie on social classes in America. This film shows all the classes in America, and also follows people that have changed their own social class. It interviewed many people from many different classes and it showed how these classes are made.

           In the upper class they interviewed a man and asked him the question of how he can tell if someone is not in his class. He started firing off all these answers on how people do not fit into his social class. He commented on the way they dress, talk, eat, and carry themselves. He actually seemed obnoxious because of the way he was comparing himself to lower classes.

            They interviewed a woman from Appalachia who was considered poverty level. She was a much more pleasant person to listen to. She talked about her hard times and her home and family. Even though she had next to nothing she still took pride in the few things she did have. She made a comment at one point and said, “My daddy would be proud if he could see me now.” She had a job, a family, and a home and that was good enough for her.

            This movie made me think about the social classes and how happy people are in each class. It is said that adolescents with upper class status are more likely to have anxiety and depression and abuse drugs than adolescents in lower classes.   

             http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2248/is_158_40/ai_n14815096/

            This article goes on to say that affluent adolescents use drugs to escape their problems or to relax, but lower class adolescents use drugs for recreational use or because they are told it is “cool.” Higher status teens are using drugs to relieve them selves of the stress they have put on them. This goes to show that maybe money is not everything.