Social Class In Early America

In Mantsios article “Class in America” he states that Americans hold beliefs that blind them to social classes, citizens in America have four myths they use to ensure talk about the classes never take place. America has the largest gap between rich and poor in the world, and the lower class has no means to an end they can’t afford health care or quality education. The upper class avoids talk about social class the most; wealthy people don’t want to admit that they are better off than others. While the lower class sees how much better off others are than them, but they still don’t like to label themselves. I agree with Mantsios that most Americans avoid talk about classes although I am not one of them. Also I

Throughout time, in all places, there is an upper class and a lower class. During the 16th to 19th century in America people came from all over Europe. People from Europe found America as an escape from their life; a new start. Some could not afford to take a boat ride across the Atlantic with their whole family. Because of this, some people became indentured servants. Later on, the South revolutionized America by bringing in black slaves and getting rid of indentured servitude. Slaves generated the economy for the South, but was also the main cause of the civil war. Both slaves and indentured servants were treated badly, however, black slaves were much more expensive and had to work for life,

Everyday Life in Early America was written by David Freeman Hawke, a professor of American History at Lehman College. He was seventy-five years old when he passed away in 1999. Hawke carried multiple degrees from Swarthmore College, University of Wisconsin, and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a highly regarded historical scholar with a talent for writing. Hawke already had several books published by the time he wrote Everyday Life in Early America in 1988. These books include: The Colonial Experience (1966), In the Midst of a Revolution (1961), Paine (1974), and Franklin (1976). His other book, “Benjamin Rush: Revolutionary Gadfy” was a biography nominated for National Book Award in 1972.

Second to the lowest class were free africans and they had almost no rights. The only things they could do is own land and own slaves. After buying these slaves, sometimes relatives, they might set them free. Even though they were free and owned land, they still could not vote or sit on a court jury.

There is much debate about the issue of social class in the United States. There are arguments about whether social classes are distinctly separate or fluid, dependent upon one’s community or society as a whole, and if they are subjective or objective (Hughes and Jenkins). However, despite the debate surrounding social classes, it is still important to try to define them and analyze their effects, as they are such an important part of our identity and our opportunities in society. Although our society has tried to appear as though we have no classes, and it is becoming harder to tell what class someone is in by material goods, classes do still exist today (Scott and Leonhardt). The trend has been to divide the U.S. into four major

The social class for the Elizabethan Era was unique because of the different ways it was set up than from today. This social class has a very different type of hierarchy than any other social class that was ever made. Even though this social class was unique, it still needed the opportunity for improving the flaws. Certain levels of hierarchy needed a possibility for demotion for their class to move up in the rankings so they can get treated and respected better. The lower levels of the social classes didn’t have the best ways of living and suffered cruelty. The social class in the Elizabethan Era had a different type of hierarchy than we do today, the social class had the opportunity for improvement, and the possibility of demotion of the social class; therefore the social class could have had a revolution or change in the system.

The American colonies had clear class divisions and from them arose much conflict. The elite wanted to stay on top so they created laws to oppress the poor and also tried to get the middle class to side with them by making “concessions to the middle class, without damage to their own wealth or power, at the expense of slaves, Indians, and poor whites.” I think Zinn said it best when he said, “New York in the colonial period was like a feudal kingdom…where barons controlled completely the lives of their tenants.” The use of slaves and indentured servants benefited and brought profit to only the elites. The American colonies were societies of “contending classes.”

An inequality in society, economy, wealth distribution, and political corruption and the influence in cooperation of government led to

There were several classes of whites in the Antebellum South. The first class is what you call your elite or high class which were the wealthy, high society, grower gentry who were land rich. The first class possessed at least 20 or more slaves and accomplished their wealth from the development and sale of the cash crops, cotton and rice. The children of the upper class were often educated by personal tutors or at private schools in South Carolina and abroad. Next, there was the middle class of white people. The middle class consisted of tradesman, merchants, sharecroppers and etc. When the economy stayed steady, it allowed the middle class people to make a living. Their children were taught to read and write, basically learn the

The Antebellum south was a very paternalistic society believing strongly in a social hierarchy that attempted to emulated the aristocracy of Europe. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) At the top of the hierarchy were the wealthy planters that believed in being treated with deference by those below them in the class hierarchy and were to care for those that were “inferior” like a father. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) The wives of these wealthy men were often “placed on a pedestal and expected to uphold genteel values of sexual purity, spiritual piety, and submissive patience,” as she managed the household and dealt with the hyper-masculine culture that surrounded her. (Nash, et al., 2007., p. 316) Below these planters were yeoman farmers that strived to achieve the wealth of higher class, but owned smaller farms and a few number of slaves.

Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status which can include levels of wealth, success, power of authority, and influence. Status is can be defined or grouped having common economic, cultural, or political interests.

Slaveholders viewed themselves as a superior class of people. “A yeomen farmer from Bell Buckle, Tennessee, Keysaer complained that before the Civil War the slaveholders always acted as if they were of a better class and there was always an unpleasant feeling between slaveholders and those working themselves” (80). Nonslaveholders were known as yeomen and actually did their own work. On the other hand, slaveholders had the slaves work for them. They were lazy and never participated in the work on their plantations. There was often confusion associated with a slaveholder and nonslaveholder. Many questions were asked concerning how their views were alike or different about slavery. Not owning a slave, was not an indication of the preference of a yeomen farmer. Yeomen often wanted to take care of their own responsibilities rather than depending on the help of a slave. However, according to slaveholders, slave ownership was viewed as the preference of the superior class of people. “Indeed, owning slaves apparently made a difference in the perception of class relations in the Old South” (80). “Thus the more prosperous of Keysaer’s fellow Tennessee veterans interviewed many years remembered that relations between slaveholders and nonslaveholders were grounded in “social equality” (80).

Social class systems in the nineteenth century were comprised of the upper class, the middle class, the working class, and the underclass. The different social classes can be “distinguished by inequalities in such areas as power, authority, wealth, working and living conditions, life-styles, life-span, education, religion, and culture” (Cody). The poor, also known as peasants, were usually mistreated and segregated from the wealthy, or those of higher class. During his time, Charles Dickens “seen as a champion of “the poor” by some of the poor themselves” (“What was”). It is said that one of his greatest achievements “was to bring the problem of poverty to the attention of his readers through introducing varieties of poor persons into almost all of his novels, and showing the “deserving” majority of the poor, bravely struggling against the forces arrayed against them” (“What was”). This is clearly evident in A Tale of Two Cities. During the nineteenth century Victorian era, social class systems were a common excuse for the division and mistreatment of many individuals, as evidenced in Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities.

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.

In the general prologue of the canterbury tales there are many different characters and they all reflect the social classes of medieval times. Some being low lifes some being aristocrats. For example there's a honorable knight who is well respected and distinguished , there's also a merchant ,a monk,a cook,and a skipper. All have been raised in highly different ways.