Essay about Social Class

Despite the debates about social class, the United States is usually described as having four major social classes, the elite or upperclass, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class (Goldscmidt). Classes are generally differentiated by income, education, and occupation although other factors do have an effect. The upperclass 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 upperclass as they are pretty clearly isolated in their power and wealth. The middle class makes up about 40% of the population making anywhere from 40,000 to 749,999 dollars a year (Hughes and Jenkins). The large disparity in income and wealth have led to a further division of this class into upper-middle class and middle class in some circles. The middle class usually work white collar jobs as professionals and managers, however some highly skilled blue collar workers are included. Those in the middle class have usually obtained higher education degrees and place a high value on individual responsibility for one’s class (Goldschmidt). The working class is composed of about 50% of the population earning 13,000 to 39,000 dollars a year (Hughes and Jenkins). Some also divide this class into a working class and a

First of all ; “Social is a set of concepts in the social sciences and political theory cantered on models of social stratification in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories”.(Andrew, 2001) There are three common stratum model ; upper class , middle class and lower class. These classes divided according to little concepts: upper class(wealthy and powerful) owns and controls production; a middle class is small business owners, and low-level directors and a lower class having low-paying wage jobs and rarely getting money but also having enough money to live . The upper class is the social class contains people who are rich or wellborn or both. The middle class also named Bourgeoisie is group of people in society who stay socio-economically between the lower and upper classes. However lower class are those people who employed in low-paying wage jobs also persons with low income.

Social class is defined as a label that categorizes individuals based on their economic status, wealth, and

* Working class: The lowest category and lived poorly and worked for long amounts for limited amounts of money and resources.

The concept of social class has been around for ages and is still a part of today’s society. Social class is not only based on the individual’s wealth but also on their social standing such as; monarchs, priests, nobles, merchants, and peasant class. The peasant class was practically ignored, which means that the higher classes would only pay attention to each other. This can be the case in society today, there are some people who feel that their career makes them higher than a janitor. Even though humans have been around for centuries, social class is still a big issue.

Society is set up into a hierarchical triangle that essentially determines social class. A social class is any person or group of people with the same educational, social or economical status. Social class can be broken down into many different categories such as race, age, gender, economic status, educational status and many more. Social class can be measured in many different ways such as financial status, family values, appearance, and demeanor. In America there are six main economical social classes which are the: Very poor, Poor, Working class, Middle class, Upper middle class, and the ruling class.

Social class describes the different "layers" that exist in society. These "layers," or classes in society, are a division that civilization has been running on ever since the beginning of mankind. In most modern societies, our system of social class division is one of opportunity. We experience a good deal of social mobility, where people through generations or in their own lifetime can move up or down the social scale. By examining the many different perceptions of social class along with S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders, it is illustrated that social class has an impact on people while they are growing up, and will usually deny them from rising above adversity.

Social Class is a division of a society based on social and economic status. In today’s society there are three main social groups in America: upper, middle, and lower class; these rankings are contributed by mass amounts of factors, but one of the main factors that people cannot control is their race and ethnicity. Race and ethnicity, likewise as gender, can also play a part in a variety of other concerns such as, education level, income, and where you reside.

As described in Social Class Matters, placement in a class system can occur through ascription or achievement. The class that a person is ascribed to or achieves greatly correlates to the privilege in their life, and can determine many things in life – access to quality education, availability of medical care or living conditions. Social class matters as it can almost pre-determine the quality of life that a person will lead.

Social class is defined as 'people having the same social or economic status' (Wordnet). In contemporary American society, social class is based on the amount of money and property you have and also prestige. Prestige is given to a person through the line of work or the family that they come from. For example, upper-upper class member Jennifer Lopez reeks of prestige not only because she has millions of dollars in her bank account, but she has very expensive luxuries, cars, and houses.

The working class: This class of people have minimum education and are primarily involved in “manual labor”. They are technically classifies as “Working poor” who perform tasks such as maids, waitresses, road repair or farm work. They get base minimum wage as stipulated by U.S government. They have very little scope for advancing in their career. The next level of workers in this class are plumbers, electricians, carpenters and fitters who are called “Blue collar” Workers. Naturally they are paid more than the “Working poor” . But they jobs are labor intensive and can be dangerous sometimes.

In the United States there is three social classes. There is a lower class nation, middle class, and the upper class nation. The lower class is the working class the “blue collar” , the middle class is the “white collar” jobs and the upper class is the independently wealthy class. In the united states there is more people that fit into the middle class than into any of the other two social classes. In the article Middle Class In America by the U.S. Department of Commerce states that, “Middle class families are defined by their aspirations more than their

Social Class refers to a group of people with similar levels of wealth, influence, and status. As time passes by many of us start to alienate from each other in terms of what classes we belong to and what type of things we could afford and it also affects the social mobility people will experience, because of that it affects a lot of us greatly and you start to realize how it affects you when it comes to what type of neighborhood you live in or what type of work you do or where you go to school.

The Bourgeois is a class that is in contrast to the proletariat or wage earning class, and is concerned with property values. Karl Marx was one of many people who treated the French Revolution as a revolution of the bourgeois. In Marxist theory, the bourgeoisie plays an important role by revolutionizing and modernizing industry and society.

According to scholar Mario Barrera, traditional Marxists thinks that a class is a group of people who have a similar relationship in things that they use in their daily lives, such as food, houses, and appliances (Franks, 30). Also, Marxists address that each society has its own particular class structure. In addition, Marxists have defined three primary classes that currently exist in a capitalist social system, and they can be found in the United States. The first group of classes consists of capitalists, people who own and control an enormous proportion of productive property in the United States. Having productive property means being able to produce products, such as producing products that people demand. In this case, capitalists are wealthy because they hold an overwhelming amount of productive property.