Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

What Determines Americans’ Income: An Intersectional Multivariate Analysis Of Americans’ Income, Sandra Hovsepian

Honors Senior Capstone Projects

In a capitalistic society, Americans are socialized to value the earning of money more than anything. Americans are told that the best way to make this money is to go to college and further their education. Yet, millionaires such as Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey never bothered to earn a college degree. This begs one to question if education is the only factor in earning a sizable income. If not the only factor, is it the most important?

When addressing the question of if education is the only factor, the wage gap supplies a partial answer. We know that because …