Social Class and Economic Opportunity Could Impact Economic Development

Social status is one factor that impacts how we are perceived and sometimes treated in society. Each person is viewed as sitting at "a place" based on the totality of social, economic, cultural, and religious perceptions. Some are born with more wealth already part of in-groups while others are not. Most in society will need to toil, work, and save to create a middle class lifestyle. Some will go up and some will not. Overall, it is becoming easier to move up if you already have some wealth but harder if you have nothing and are from the less fortunate classes. Does improving flow of capital and opportunity help a society adjust to its environment faster thereby increasing positive adaptations that lead to market advancements and higher quality of life?

There are many factors that influence social status and how one navigates their environment. Those relate to financial knowledge all the way over to social networking

How does one improve movement from less fortunate classes to more affluent classes to ensure innovation and circulation of resources to the best ideas? There is a circulatory/transactional aspect to societies that can adjust faster to the environment.  

1. Education that teaches certain financial and networking skills.

2. Small business to own labor capital and speed innovation.

3. Strong social environments that include a many social levels (versus an isolated wealthy class)

4. Institutional purity ensures that poor and rich receive the same justice metric and wealthier and poorer classes get the same treatment (i.e. increasing trust in the whole).

It is helpful for me for my research purposes to understand how social class can impact economic opportunities, institutional outcomes, and socialization. If a cluster can be designed to allow to maximize human capital it should think about creating flow from the struggling classes to more prominant class so as to ensure proper motivation and maximizaiton of "best and brightest" (vs. nepotism, clan, or non performance based systems.)

A few articles on social class. 

Who Identifies as Middle Class: 54% of Americans Identify as Middle Class

The Psychology of Social Class: How we are raised impacts how we see and interact with others. 

Intersectional Stratification-Race, Religion and Status Attainment: Discussion on how race and religion impact status in society.