Class. The NINE levels of American Society

[Horse with no Name]

according to Paul Fussell. I think this makes it easy where to pigeonhole ourselves and see how quickly you can drop from one level of class to the other.



Top Out of Sight - Billionaires and multi-millionaires. The people so wealthy they can afford exclusive levels of privacy. We never hear about them because they don't want us to.

Upper Class - Millionaires, inherited wealth. Those who don't have to work. They refer to tuxes as "dinner jackets."

Upper Middle - Wealthy surgeons and lawyers, etc. Professionals who couldn't be described as middle class. I suspect this is the class to which I, an engineer, am supposed to aspire.

Middle Class - The great American majority, sort of.

High Proletarian (or "prole") - Skilled workers but manual labor. Electricians, plumbers, etc. Probably not familiar with the term "proletarian."

Middle Prole - Unskilled manual labor. Waitresses, painters. (In other words, my mom and dad!)

Low Prole - Non-skilled of a lower level than mid prole. I suspect these people ask "Would you like fries with that, sir?" as a career.

Destitute - Working and non-working poor.

Bottom Out of Sight - Street people, the most destitute in society. "Out of sight" because they have no voice, influence or voter impact. (They don't vote.)

[musette_sf]

1. K&R from one Fussell fan to another.

:toast:

Longtime fan of "Class", the definitive book on American class structure.

[Horse with no Name]

2. Should be required reading.

:thumbsup:

[jotsy]

3. I see class as a conceptual possession.

A set of standards having nothing to do with which rung of the economic ladder my foot finds at the moment, tyvm.

[EnviroBat]

4. Middle and Low Prole.

Republican voters who excel at voting against their better self-interests...

[Horse with no Name]

5. Because they are of the opinion it is easier to climb up than it is to

fall down. That bootstrap thingy they are so fond of.

They think the ONLY thing that hinders them from climbing up is women making more money than men, illegals taking their jobs, etc etc.

They aren't very cerebral.

[the redcoat]

6. I suspect that eliminating the top level

would lead to the elimination of the lowest 2 levels. "Low prole" will always be necessary to some degree, but hopefully it would be full of young people with no burden of family or other large responsibility.


But no0o0o0 that's socialism! How evil, indeed.

[Horse with no Name]

7. I would suspect that the majority of the money

in the top level isn't even in this country. Good post.:thumbsup:

[Speck Tater]

8. What about the hermit-guru who lives in a cave on a mountaintop?

Or the monks and nuns who live in silent seclusion?
Or what about other off-the-grid people who have side-stepped the whole scale-of-affluence system and don't fit into any of those categories?

[Horse with no Name]

9. Bottom out of sight. n/t

[maxsolomon]

10. your "upper middle" is the wealthy.

i know surgeons making a million dollars a year. it ain't "upper" middle class in any statistical way, shape, or form. country club memberships are not middle class.

[Horse with no Name]

11. The idea of Fussell

is that he breaks down the classes into subclasses with the idea that each of the nine classes of people aspires to the class above them.

Here is a very good synopsis of the book.
http://www.halfsigma.com/2006/06/class.html

[XanaDUer]

12. Love Fussell

His "Class" should be required reading across America.