Maya Eason

Literature Review with Annotated Bibliography

11/7/23
Annotated Bibliography

Wagmiller, Robert L. and Robert M. Adelman. 2009. “Childhood and Intergenerational Poverty -
NCCP.” National Center for Children in Poverty. (https://www.nccp.org/wp-
content/uploads/2020/05/text_909.pdf).
In this article, Wagmiller Jr. and Adelman find that individuals who experienced poverty in

their youth were likely to also experience poverty in adulthood. They used the data from the

Panel Study of Income Dynamics to conclude that of the impoverished individuals between the

ages of 20 and 30, approximately 4.5% of them grew up poor and of the individuals who were

poor more than half of their childhood, 35%-46% of them were impoverished between the ages

of 20 and 30. Wagmiller Jr. And Adelman cite intergenerational mobility as an important

measure of deciding whether a region has a good chance of pursuing social stratification. And

although the findings in this study already contradict the notion of the American Dream, it

further dispels the ideology upon the inclusion of race. This study finds that African Americans

are at a higher risk of being exposed to poverty in their youth and are more likely to become

impoverished with the same amount of exposure are white individuals.

Kraus, Michael W. and Jacinth X. J. Tan. 2015. “Americans Overestimate Social Class
Mobility.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103115000062?ref=pdf_downloa
d&fr=RR-2&rr=82609125feb09c5e).
In this article, Kraus and Tan compare the actual rates of social mobility to the perceived

rates of social mobility in America. They found that social mobility is overestimated but the data

on the quintile of people more likely to overestimate stratification is split. The reasons behind
this overestimation are: a lack of statistical understanding about social stratification and personal

motivations to uphold the idea of an equal opportunity for social mobility. They cite different

studies that explain how overestimation occurs in the upper class and in the middle and lower

classes. The one for the lower- and middle-class hypothesis that the miscalculation is born from

an optimism to reach a higher socioeconomic status. The study for the upper class concludes that

people prefer to assess their success by merit rather than a social system error.

Kraus, Michael W. and Jacinth X. J. Tan. 2015. “Americans Overestimate Social Class
Mobility.” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103115000062?ref=pdf_downloa
d&fr=RR-2&rr=82609125feb09c5e).
A study written by Grodsky, Warren and Felts dissects the effect standardized testing has

on elevating marginalized groups in socioeconomic status. Standardized testing in relation to

socioeconomic status would not be such a point in contention if not for the large gaps in scores

among distinct groups of individuals. Although there is not much of a difference in scores

regarding gender, there is a sizable one regarding race with white individuals scoring

substantially better those Black and Hispanic individuals in some areas. It is hypothesized that

the socioeconomic differences of these groups directly correlate to the differences in scores.

After complying data like the validity, reliability, bias and uses for the test, Grodsky, Warren and

Felts conclude that standardized tests are used for a noble cause in the American school system,

but they are not a sure-fire solution. A difference in socio-economic status leads to different

measures of knowledge, and those of a higher socio-economic status are more likely to be better

prepared. It's counter-intuitive to use a standardized test when there is such a large disparity in

the knowledge it takes to excel at the test.

Synthesis:

These articles go into detail about the effect that a lack of understanding on social mobility has

on the average person every day. There are so many aspects of life that are affected by an

individual's socio-economic status and the statistical battle to achieve more