"This immigrant Hispanic electorate by definition is low on the socioeconomic scale," he said.

It is a modest area, maybe one click down the socioeconomic scale from my neighborhood in Sunnyvale.

Lower down the socioeconomic scale, people mind it less, even like it.

And I knew a lot of people up and down the socioeconomic scale, if you know what I mean.

Elsewhere in the world, were such systems exist, those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, have had to fight tooth and nail for reasonable medical insurance.

Vertical mobility: The movement of individuals and groups up or down the socioeconomic scale.

I move in circles from the top to the bottom of the socioeconomic scale that I would be isolated from in other communities.

Only 3 percent of the students at these highly selective schools come from the bottom 25 percent of the socioeconomic scale.

The test-score rankings were almost indistinguishable from the socioeconomic scale, with wealthy suburbs on top and the big cities on the bottom.

All of the recent gains have been made, deliberately, at the low end of the socioeconomic scale and among the lowest achievers.