Members of the middle class do not necessarily live the American dream, but many of them live comfortably. In some studies, nearly 90% of Americans identified themselves as belonging to the middle class stratum. (Conley 2015) Unfortunately, the average American believes they are better off than they actually are. Many of the people who identify as middle class are actually working class. How could the two classes be separated? The office worker usually describes the middle class while the working class is described as the manual worker. However, in recent years the working class as a whole has gained a new stratification and has become a larger part of the middle class. The middle class and working class may not be the American dream, but they are the standard of life they live by. America. So what describes the poor class? The poor class, unlike other classes, has an actual definition. “In 2013, the poverty line for a family of four was $23,550.” (Conley 2015: 261) The average poor family struggles to survive day to day, paycheck to paycheck, and wonders how they will make it. Additionally, the way America is structured means that most Americans cannot easily reach a higher socioeconomic level