One of great distinctions offered by the students of social class is between absolute and relative poverty. What is this distinction how does it play out in American class system? I started by defining the terms.

In absolute poverty, a person cannot provide for his/her basic needs such as food and shelter. Homeless people suffer from absolute poverty. In relative poverty, the government's official statistics define the poverty level as those earning below 60% of average earnings.

How does it play out in the American class system?

You may also want to use the poverty threshold under this link as additional reference.
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/index.html)