Contemporary American Class Structure Essay

Have you ever referred to someone as “high class,” “middle class,” or “low class?” The article “Class In America” is a very educated read and describes the way people are characterized by their “class.” I think that this article informs all types of readers and allows people to see how people are grouped based on themselves. “Class in America” is written to show and prove to society that people do not talk about “class” anymore, because of the way the world looks at it today. Gregory Mantosis is the author of the article, and he uses many facts and data to prove his points.

Contrary to the popular belief that the middle class is a general term describing a cohesive group of people who are neither rich nor poor, the classes in the middle consist of three separate groups: the upper-middle class, the lower-middle class, and the working class (Marger 112). Although these groups share many similarities, they have distinct characteristics that distinguish them from one another.

There is much debate in America about how its society has fallen under the cowl of social stratification resulting in the unforgiving rise of class inequality. It is becoming more and more clear these days that these beliefs have seemed to turn into truth in the last couple decades. New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winning economic professor Paul Krugman discusses why and how upward mobility has become increasingly difficult in the past decades in his article “The Death of Horatio Alger,” which was first published on December 18th 2003 in New York City. His thorough explanation makes it easy to understand just how close the United States is to being a true caste society and the imposing danger of such an event. Harvard professor

In reality the middle class are the job creators, and they are the heart of spending. When it comes to the upper class you would notice that if spending money was depended on them they would be the first to be ruled out. This is because the upper class makes a large sum of money, but they do not spend all that they make. So the middle class is the most important aspect of this economy. As of 2010 the middle class is struggling to stay afloat. Middle class would be considered to be with the medium being $50,000 dollars, somewhere close to $25,000 to $75,000.

Mantsios (2006) proceeds to outline several myths, including the overarching myth that America is a "classless" society (p. 183). The second of his four main myths related to class in America is that "Despite some variations in economic status, most Americans have achieved relative affluence in what is widely recognized as a consumer society," (p. 184). Certainly, to a villager in Zimbabwe a poor American might seem to have "relative affluence." Yet within the broader scheme of American society, it seems insulting to claim validity to this myth. Mantsios (2006) offers some hypothetical case studies to highlight the importance of class in American discourse, and the falsehood of the myth of universal affluence.

The American class system is divided into three set of social categories: upper class, middle class, and lower class. These class divisions are determined based on an individual’s status and power in the society and may also be determined through an individual’s education, occupation, and income. Having a division of a society based on social and economic status leads to the formation of different conversational styles. The use of standard or nonstandard English dialects often reflect an individual’s social class and it will vary according to the social category one is categorized. Language is affected by the social structure because individuals will differ from one another in the way an individual speak. Being divided by a social

In the United States, people and their families are categorized in a class based on power, wealth and occupational prestige. There are five categories in the United States that categorizes our nation’s people. The classification of our nation’s status includes the poor, the near poor, the working class, the middle class, and the upper Class.

According to Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein in The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, Social class, a system of stratification practiced primarily in capitalist societies, ranks groups of people according to their worth. It is difficult to draw exact lines between the social classes in the united states. The most identified classes are upper class, middle and lower middle class. The upper class is just 1 percent and the middle class is 30 percent of the U.S population. Wealthy people erudite early in their lives that whatever money came into their households, at least of 10 percent was paid for themselves for saving purposes. They may have gone into the stock market; they may have invested in mutual and bond funds. On the other hand, Middle class people use their income to pay their bills first. All

In the United State there are six different social classes. The Upper-Upper class consists of the top one percent in America. This is the families who have been rich for generations. The Lower- Upper class is people who have new money like celebrities and professional athletes. This makes up the top two percent of America. The Upper-Middle class is people who have high education and good paying careers, like doctors, lawyers, and other people with doctoral and professional degrees. This class makes up ten percent of the American population. The Lower-Middle class makes up twenty-eight percent of the population. This class consists of profession like teachers, social workers, and accountants. The fifth major social class in America is the Working class, which makes up thirty-five percent of the population. This class has both skilled and unskilled laborers. The last class is the Lower Working class which is people who are poor or near poor, unskilled and uneducated Americans. This class makes up for twenty-five percent of the population in

The American class structure system here in the United States is based on class divisions. The divisions can be determined by many different factors such as a person’s economic situation, educational level, and occupation. However, the most commonly known approach to this division is the idea of social class. These social classes are divided into categories, which include the upper class, middle class, working class, lower class and the underclass.

Despite the debates about social class, the United States is usually described as having four major social classes, the elite or upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class (Goldschmidt). Classes are differentiated by income, education, and occupation although other factors do have an effect. The upper class consists of about 1% of the population making 750,000 dollars or more a year as investors, top executives, or heirs to large fortunes (Hughes and Jenkins). There tends to be no question about who is in the upper class as they are pretty clearly isolated in their power and wealth. The middle class makes up about 40% of the population making

     Families in the upper class, 5 percent of the U.S. population, earn more than $100,000 annually and may even earn ten times that much. Many members of the upper class work as top corporate executives or senior government officials. Typically, upper class people attend the most expensive and highly regarded schools and colleges. Historically, though less so today, the upper class has been composted of white Anglo-Saxton Protestants (WASP). The upper class often describes as “society” or “blue bloods”, included less than 1 percent o the U.S. Population. Members of the upper class are set apart by their wealth and live in a world of exclusives neighborhoods. Women of the upper-upper class often maintain a full schedule of volunteer work for chartable organizations. Most upper class people actually fall into the lower-upper class.

(Introduction to Sociology Pg. 222) Within this class system are three broad overlapping categories: a working class, a middle class, and an upper class. People are placed within these categories based on their occupation, income, and wealth. The working class receives the lowest income and fills blue-collar jobs in factories and farms, as well as white-collar positions like clerical and secretarial jobs in offices. The middle class consists of professionals like teachers, engineers, small business people, and skilled workers. The upper class, often called the elite or ruling class is composed of those who run our major economic and political institutions and receive the highest earnings for doing so.

The lower class, also known as the “working class”, were those individuals whom partook on the strenuous and dangerous jobs. These individuals were expected to work each and every day for multiple hours as a time and without a break. Although they worked extremely hard, the lower class was not paid well for their effort. Instead, they received the very minimum wage that one could, and were expected to live off of this (Allingham, 2002). Because the people of this class did not have as much money, their material items such as; housing, clothing, and food were very minimum. Even with the small amount of income that they received, the “lower section of the society was also burdened with numerous taxes that made their life miserable.” (Bishal, 2008) Lastly, the working classes remained shut out from the political process, making these individuals in reality separated from the rest of society (Allingham, 2002).

The life of living in the middle-class can be stressful. There are so many ways that middle-class parents raise their children. I see the middle-class being like a club. If you want in here are a few things you have to do kind of club. Middle-class is defined either by education (college degree) or by occupation (P.134). As of all the other researchers that we have read about or read their research. They have found that class-based differences in marriage, divorce rate, household structure, lifespan, and health outcomes (P 134.). Social class has been found to be a factor in the character of childrearing. The middle-class is a huge population of the U.S. Most middle-class families are extremely political and that is exactly what this study is.