The Importance Of Social Classes In America

1. Class is characterized as the difference between groups of people who are ranked on a social or economic status. The book describes the word “class” being used less often among the poor but rather refer to their race, ethnic group, or geographical location to identify with. There are three basic tiers to the social classes. There is the upper-class, middle- class, and lower-class. Classes are divided up by the amount of yearly income. There was a study done by Susan Ostrander that tested women on whether they considered themselves apart of the upper class or not. One participant responded and said, “I hate [the term] upper class. It is so non-upper class to use it. I just call it ‘all of us,’ those who are wellborn” (p. 150). Often, Americans use
Then myths are created to define what specifically is wealth and poverty. America is looked at as a wealthy country but only 1 percent of the American population holds 34 percent of the total national wealth (p. 151). This is a very small percentage of the American population. There are more people living in poverty in America than there are wealthy, middle class people. One in eight people in this country live below the official poverty line (p. 150). It is difficult to say that we live in a classless nation because there is explicit difference between the poor and the rich. About one-third of the American population lives at one extreme or the other. The gap between the rich and poor is tremendously growing, according to the book (152).
Wealth is often lumped