American Class Structures. How Does That Work?

bigmouth

Save My Soul made a comment in his current thread that interested me:

"He said he had never met a black man of his class in his small town." - This was said to him by a white man.

The British class system is infamous. You can determine if a person is upper, middle or working class by their accent, their occupation and where they live.

But how did this class system get into the U.S.A.? Can different races have different classes and how do you guys know if someone is your 'class'?

Where does Bill Cosbys Dr. Huxtable fit in? What about Everyone Hates Chris? My Name Is Earl? It's all very surprising and confusing.

jaguarbass

There are the rich and there are the poor thats the class system in Amerika.

And we live by the golden rule. Those with the Gold make the rules.

FlyingHighNow

We do have a class system here and it's not so much a race issue. There are classes within each race. You have the elite, wealthy. You have the college educated class. You have upper middle class. Middle class and lower middle class. There are the working poor. There is the poor who still have a measure of dignity Then there are those that some call white trash. The less money and the less educated a person is, the less they are usually respected. These classes tend to exist in each racial culure as well.

US middle class

Main article: American middle class

Today in the US there are multiple theories as to what constitutes the middle class. As the vast majority of Americans identify as being middle class, the term has been used to describe people from all walks of life, from janitors to attorneys. [1] [2] As a result the middle class is often sub-divided into two or three groups. While one set of theories claim that the middle class is composed of those in the middle of the social strata, other theories maintain that professionals and managers who have a college degree make up most of the middle class. [3] In 2005 roughly 35% of Americans worked in the professional/professional support or managerial field and 27% had a college degree. [4] Sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert or Joseph Hickey argue that the middle class is divided into two sub-groups. The upper middle class consists of white collar professionals with advanced educations and constitutes roughly 15% of the population. In 2005 the top 15% of income earners (age 25+) had incomes exceeding $62,500. [5] The lower middle class (or middle-middle class for those who divide the middle class into three segments) consists of other mostly white collar employees with less autonomy in their work, lower educational attainment, lower personal income and less prestige than those of the upper middle class. Sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert, James Henslin, William Thompson and Joseph Hickey have brought forth class models in which the middle class is divided into two sections which combine to represent 47% to 49% of the population. [6] [7] [8] Economist Michael Zweig defines class as power relationships among the members of a society, rather than as a lifestyle or by income. [9] Zweig says that the middle class is only about 34% of the U.S. population, typically employed as managers, supervisors, small business owners and other professional people.

yknot

Our class system, depends on how you classify.

Economic, Education, pedigree, and success....etc

There will always be a way for someone to bias another.

One person's ceiling is another person's floor

But the unique thing about America orginally, was the ability to not be limited by one's birth.

Of course in the begining there were many who were denied this "right" because of race and gender.

bigmouth

Thanks you three. Wikipedia! of course. Dunno why I didn't think of looking.
What I'm really getting at is do you look at people and sort of analyse their class relative to yours or is it sort of a manufactured thing we see on TV and movies?
Here on JWD I notice a lot is made of someone being 'a janitor or window cleaner' in a derogatory way. As I live in a gregarious society I find this attitude baffling.
<br><br>yknot - that's right, the USA where anyone could become a millionaire or president.

darkuncle29

'a janitor or window cleaner' in a derogatory way

IMHO when people post this, they are implying that these are uneducated (secondary or post sec) and therfore no sane person would want them counceling rape victims or abuse victims or the depressed, as that is not what they are qualified for. Being a window washer in and of itself is normal, nothing wrong.

I also think that to most americans, class is just an expression, not as defined as the British system and not as enforced as India's caste system (buthasn't even that been outlawed?)

spartan

the class syetem in England in no longer clearly defined either.

most people dont know whether they belong to working class or middle class or what. its definitely not about money over in England

nomoreguilt

Window washers and janitors! It's a private joke thing with jws in U.S. So often we are told from the platform to keep our eye simple. If you work for yourself you are thereby able to manage your own time and life. Thus you are free to make all the meetings and even PIONEER!!!! So, there are many jw that pursue these meanial tasks as a way of life. Then, they enlist the help of other dubs to help them pursue this life style, and THEN they form a company, get bigger, better, make more money, enlist more dubs, and the next thing you know they miss meetings, field circus, etc. Captalism at its best! Be an entrepenour. They also call it A Cleaning Business. Oh, there is no end to what some bros will do to take advantage of another bro. As I started this out, simple. Wash windows, clean, keep your eye simple. RIGHT!!!

bigmouth

Thanks darkuncle. I know this is a dig at elders who are generally unqualified to counsel people that should be given professional help. But clarify this for me; "uneducated (secondary or post sec) ". Does this mean that in American society a person who has left secondary school (age 18 / 19 ?) is considered uneducated? Not sure if our terminology matches in our two countries.

nomoreguilt

They have not moved on to University level in your culture. My ex was from your culture, I learned alot from her on this matter.

American Class Structures. How Does That Work?

US middle class

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