There will always be outliers with any spectrum. In terms of the Class Spectrum, there are certainly a small percent of people who are born into a permanent self-reliance class and never have to lift a finger to maintain it. However, no matter how one starts off in life; no matter who one is raised by; and no matter what childhood/teenager traumatic events one experiences or witnesses; the bottom line is that they still get the same exact 168 hours per week (24 hours per day times 7 days) every Monday morning at 6 AM. This goes for everyone residing in the USA, completely independent of any individual physical traits or beliefs.
This important and inarguable fact then makes it easy to lay out the Class Spectrum’s “168 Hours Foundation,” which is comprised from the two very prominent trade-off characteristics of leisure time vs. income time. Leisure time spent socializing; with family; parenting, working for charitable causes; on chores; home repairing; on hobbies; playing sports; video gaming; sleeping; having sex; etc. Income time spent towards any legal form of gainful employment and/or self-employment, either of which can be on top of managing one’s privately owned properties. Income time also naturally includes any schooling and training (even self-training) for future and/or higher income opportunities.
For those who are currently earning income, it is not uncommon to find some adult humans working only part-time, generally defined as 20 hours or less per week. Then in the USA’s post-Affordable Care Act world circa 2010, full-time employment is now defined as 30 or more hours per week, putting regular full-time positions in the 30 to 40 hours per week range. At the same time, there are those adult humans who find themselves working 50 to 60 or more hours per week, which typically encompasses more demanding ways to earn a living.
To be clear, these work hours-related categories (i.e., up to 20; between 30 to 40; and between 50 to 60) are based on total hours spent working in the 168-hour week that everyone is equally allotted in the USA and is absolutely additive. Holding 2 or 3 part-time jobs at 20 hours per week places one in the 30 to 40 and 50-plus hours categories, respectively. The same is true for holding a 9 to 5 full-time job with 1 hour each day of break time but putting in a significant amount of overtime taking the 35-hour work week to something also in the 50-hours-plus range. Accordingly, herein lies the 168 Hours Foundation for defining the Class Spectrum’s left, middle, and right.
Starting with the left, the characteristics combination of Leisure Heavy and Income Lite is labeled the “12-percenter.” Working no more than 20 hours per week divided by 168 hours equals 11.9 percent and leaves plenty of time for leisure. This group includes the abled bodied adult humans who do not work at all. Next, the middle is represented by the standard “9 to 5 with breaks” work week, which averages 35 hours per week (7 hours per day x 5 days per week), allowing for a Balanced Leisure/Income lifestyle. The label “21-percenter” is then applied given how 35 hours divided by 168 hours equals 20.8 percent. Such average work weeks leave amble time for leisure activities.
There are then the abled-bodied adult humans who currently find themselves working way more than 30 to 40 hours per week. A work week that easily entails on average 50 to 60 hours or even more of their 168 hours. This type of effort translates into a major trade-off of leisure hours making them technically Leisure Lite and Income Heavy, the latter of which can be significant under an Equal Opportunities Capitalist society. This then derives the label for the category which sits on the right, i.e., the “33-percenter,” by using an average of 55 hours per week divided by the same 168 hours which equals 32.7 percent.
A fourth multi-faceted category for adult humans is labeled the “N/A percenter.” It starts with those whose self-reliance responsibility has ties to “dependent status” including marriage, divorce via alimony, and/or single-parent child support. Importantly, dependents exclude youthful abled-bodied adult humans who are not working/schooling/training while getting “the rent” paid by one’s parent(s), via still living at home or other arrangement.
The N/A-percenter also includes those who are disabled, and can only survive with assistance from others, including the government. Then there are the retirees and elderly who with the available government social insurance programs plus life savings no longer need to work. In other words, the 168 Hours Foundation is not applicable to this diversified group from a self-reliance perspective. So, they fall off the main spectrum similarly to the N/A-sexuals, i.e., the Chaseless, who no longer engage in sex with other’s aroused genitalia. The Class Spectrum now comes together as follows.
