Way OT: Class in America.

[Mr Punch]

Do you use class terms? How do you distinguish/define the classes? Wealth/field of work/area?

Came across the description 'the working class enclave of Albany' the other day, and wondered.

Feel free to ignore this thread... !

[Lice]

Speaking in a very general way, classes are typically defined by wealth. They're usually refered to as upper class, middle class and lower class. Although, I don't really hear the term lower class much, unless in conjunction with middle class (ie, lower-middle class). It'd more often be refered to as poverty level.

There's also a very general way of doing it by field of work. White-collar and blue-collar. White-collar being the business people, lawyers, attorneys, etc. Blue-collar being the people that actually... you know.. work. Like with their hands and everything.


Warning: This post was a generalization.

[rogue]

I have a friend who owns a company that sells Italian sausages and hotdogs from kiosks. Let's just say he makes a bunch of money being the Sausage King, while I know bank vice presidents who are paid way under what the title suggests.

Personally I don't care about what a person does or how much they make. But I am aware that I can't pick a high dollar restaurant with some of my friends that live paycheck to paycheck.

[MonkeySlap Too]

Pretty much what Rogue said.

Much to my surprise, I found a beautifully designed web site dedicated to that waste of time called Marxism. www.marxist.com. Joinn the revoloution and wait in line to get toilet paper! Listen to the rap-tap-tap of the secret police at your door at 4AM. Create a country were you need to use force to keep people within the borders! Ah, the incredible benefits of marxist thought...It's amazing how now that the Soviet Union is gone, they all claim that THAT wasn't the 'real deal', even though when it existed they all kowtowed to that giant iron curtain of lies.

(Although I do think the IMF fvcked the Russians better than our military would have. Great job, guys :rolleyes: .)

Of course, the libertarian web-site looks like crap because it is morally wrong to ask someone to do something for free...

I LOVE the fringe groups, man. I can spend hours debating with them! Where's my beer?

[{i^(]

there's an excellent book out on the subject by paul fussell, called "Class". he makes the point that class has little to do with cash, but a lot to do with access to and appreciation of culture. you can't tell a class by asking for a paystub, but you can always tell by clothes, reading habits, speech, etc.

he says the classes consist of:
bottom out-of-sight (criminals/hoimeless)
lower and mid proles (think art carney/honeymooners)
high proles (uniformed civil servants, etc)

middle (the wannabe preps)
upper middle (the real preppies)

the uppers are id'd by the fact that they inherited a significant portion of their wealth:

lower upper
upper

top out-of-sight
(think of that dupont guy that went nuts with his wrestlers. he was off-the-map and certainly out-of-sight. you needed a helicopter to find his house)

he also mentions an X category, drawn from the other classes, which consists of those who left the class system: sports stars, celebrities, writers, artists, well-to-do former drug dealers & hippies, etc.

[guohuen]

We also identify class as a mode of behavior. Something that can't be bought or inherited.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

2 classes.

people who contribute something to my life and people i want to kill.

[Former castleva]

This is a good one...
but I think I´ll just ignore it.:D