Society has developed the concept of social class to categorize people into different groups based

“The percentage of Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower class has risen from a quarter of the adult population to about a third in the past four years, according to a national survey of 2,508 adults by the Pew Research Center” (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/09/10/a-third-of-americans-now-say-they-are-in-the-lower-classes/). Today’s adults stating that they are in the lower class are most likely to have had a rough life growing up, and can now not escape the lower class. Social class is the idea of “a division of a society based on social and economic status” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/social-class). Social class has the greatest impact on who a person turns out to be and what decisions they make because those

Even though they are two different aspects of American society, social and economic classes are very interlaced. Social classification determines where an individual stands in the eyes of society, and whether they are socially accepted and embraced by American culture. A majority of the time, a person’s tier in the system is mainly determined by where they stand in the economic classification. Economic standing depicts where an individual is placed based on their financial success, and their access to the luxuries money can buy. Both have different levels of highs and

Classes in the United States have more to do with one’s personal income, educational attainment and occupational prestige for those of different ages. Although there are many people in the United States who believe that American society has been divided into three groups of people poor, middle class and rich, this society is more diverse culturally and economically. While some may believe that because of such diversity it is impossible to draw a distinctive lines between social classes in the world, but there are some who think it will be helpful if we conduct major classes to debate about class matters and to understand it better.

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.

This essay will explore the notion of social class and whether it is still relevant within today’s society. The Oxford Dictionary defines social class as ‘a division of a society based on social and economic status’ and is measurable in terms of stratification and inequality. Stratification suggests people are ranked hierarchically according to their attributes such as income, wealth, power, age, gender and status, whereas, inequality explains the difference between people in terms of their abilities and rewards

The social class structure in America is generally divided into mainly three strata: The rich constituting the upper class, the moderately affluent category comprising the middle class, and financially and socially backward people who form the lower class. There are also superimposing areas like the upper-middle class and the lower-upper class. The stratification is based on the social as well as economic environments. Although these classifications and entry to these statuses are not fixed, these three classifications give an overall perceptive of the social classification in the United States of America. (study.com)

American life is driven by the people’s income, education and occupation. These factors play a role in America’s class system. The social class in America can not be upheld by law but rather the social class is a concept. Social classes divide groups of people based on their wealth and status. America was formed as a “classless society” (Rocca) but beliefs change throughout history altering this and creating the class system.

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

“No matter your social status, or how powerful you feel you are, we are all equal. We came here by birth and will leave in death” (Unknown). Within the United States, social class/status is a very evident aspect of our culture. Social class is the status of certain people that we, as a society, are identified, and then divided and placed into different “classes,” such as high, middle, and low class. Research has defined social status as, “A broad group in society having a common economic, cultural, or political status”(Dictionary). Social class is affiliated to status, while status, is therefore associated with lifestyle, prestige and achievement of a person. Even though social class is strongly

The world is a very complicated place to be in, with many questions and problems. One thing that has always intrigued me about how our society functions is why people are treated so differently based on their class. For example, a rich upperclass man can afford a better lawyer in a court case than someone who lives in poverty, giving the rich man a better chance at winning their case. Justice is served differently based on your position in a job and how well off you are financially. Social classes actually date back as far as 1200 BC when caste systems were formed in India, separating everyone from each other. They started with priests, went to kings, warriors, merchants, landowners, peasants, servants, and even went an entire step lower to

Have you ever seen yourself “above” or better off than someone else? Of course you have, we all have. It could have been that homeless man on the street you saw while driving home, or even a student that you had to tutor because you just seem to understand the concept a little better than they did. That doesn’t make you a bad person does it? I mean someone has to be in charge and someone has to follow. Many of people believe this concept for different reasons. In America, many people think this about their social class. The more money you make, the higher in rank you are in your social class, which could mean the more opportunities you can be a part of or even more doors than can be open to you. Many believe that we still believe in the “necessary

Many people around the world have been faced with inequality at some point in their life whether it is because of race, ethnic background, or gender. Also, social class plays a major role within inequality because, depending on the social class one is born into it can predict a lot about their future. Class is defined as the status one hold in society, socially or economically: according to socioeconomic factors, it can be one's status pertaining to things such as education, wealth, or occupation. Social class in our society has always been, and continues to be, a major problem for various social inequalities related to work, educational opportunities, and health benefits. Although there have been many improvements in our social structure in the past decades, many people in the United States find themselves at disadvantage because of their social class.

People in America hate to talk about social class, and part of the reason for this is that they rarely even interact with people who belong to other social classes. One recent study found that “…the growth in income inequality from 1970 to 2000 affected patterns of income segregation along three dimensions: the spatial segregation of poverty and affluence, race- specific patterns of income segregation, and the geographic scale of income segregation” (Reardon & Bischoff, 2011, p. 1092). This means that the more incomes stratify, the less people

Many Americans have the false ideology that the divides in class come from the lower classes not working hard, being lazy or being drug addicts. However, in many cases this is untrue. People in the lower classes are branded into categories and often looked at as less than human. They learn to be ashamed of their status, unless talking to someone of lower status than them. Therefore, their lives do not only become physically hard but also mentally. In fact, a person’s class is also passed down by generation, resulting in an unfortunate cycle. In America class does matter as the view of an individual by a society, the fitness of an individual, and the potential for an accurate democracy are all class dependant.

The categorized ranking of individuals in a society who have dissimilar access to valued resources is referred to as social stratification (Kendall, p.221). The factors that play a role in selecting who is in which class depends on wealth, income, education, and occupation. These factors affect how much power and prestige a person has. Social stratification in American is broken into about four social classes; upper class, middle class, working class, and working poor.