<P> A person's socioeconomic class has wide - ranging effects . It can impact the schools they are able to attend, their health, the jobs open to them, who they may marry and their treatment by police and the courts . </P> <P> Angus Deaton and Anne Case have analyzed the mortality rates related to the group of white, middle - aged Americans between the ages of 45 and 54 and its relation to class . There has been a growing number of suicides and deaths by substance abuse in this particular group of middle - class Americans . This group also has been recorded to have an increase in reports of chronic pain and poor general health . Deaton and Case came to the conclusion from these observation that because of the constant stress that these white, middle aged Americans feel fighting poverty and wavering between the lower and working class, these strains have taken a toll on these people and affected their whole bodies . </P> <P> Social classifications can also determine the sporting activities that such classes take part in . It is suggested that those of an upper social class are more likely to take part in sporting activities, whereas those of a lower social background are less likely to participate in sport . However, upper - class people tend to not take part in certain sports that have been commonly known to be linked with the lower class . </P> <P> A person's social class has a significant impact on their educational opportunities . Not only are upper - class parents able to send their children to exclusive schools that are perceived to be better, but in many places state - supported schools for children of the upper class are of a much higher quality than those the state provides for children of the lower classes . This lack of good schools is one factor that perpetuates the class divide across generations . </P>

The working class is sometimes called the lower middle class