The American Class System

Chapter 9, Section 2

What classes exist? 1995

What classes exist? 2010

Determining Class- Three methods

1) Reputational method= members in a given community rank other members based on their knowledge of character and lifestyle.- Better for studying small communities where everyone knows everyone well.

2) Subjective method= people determine their own social rank. People generally said ‘middle’ class. Why?

3) Objective method= sociologists define class based on income, occupation, and education. - Least biased method

The Classes- 6 total• The Upper Class• Upper Middle Class• Middle Class• Lower Middle Class• Lower class/The Working Class• The Underclass

Classes• The Upper Class

o 1% of the populationo Old money v. new moneyo Old money= inherited rich; families who have shaped the

U.S. (i.e. Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Duke, Morgan, etc.) o New money= newly rich who have acquired money

through own efforts, not inheritance.

• The Upper Middle Classo High-income businesspeople and professionalso College education, advanced degreeo Very career-oriented.

Classes (cont’d)• The Lower Middle Class/Middle Class

o White-collar jobs (i.e. work that does not require manual labor)

o Less education than those held by Upper Middle Classo Comfortable life, but must work to keep it

maintained.

• The Working Classo Manual labor jobs– blue collar jobso Can pay as much or more than Lower Middle Class jobs,

but do not carry the prestige. o Pink-collar jobs– fields where women have previously

dominated.

Classes (cont’d)• The Working Poor

o Lowest-paying jobs. o Temporary or seasonal worko Some depend on government support programso Not involved politically

• The Underclasso Families experiencing unemployment and poverty

for generations o May have a job, but very low-payingo Day-to-day struggle

Social Mobility• Social mobility= movement between or

within social classes. • Three types: 1) Horizontal mobility= movement within a

class. Occurs when you move from one job to another in same social ranking.

2) Vertical mobility= movement between social classes.

3) Intergenerational mobility= a type of vertical mobility. When a person’s class of origin (i.e. their parents’) is different from their current one.

Causes of Mobility• Upward mobility:

o Advancements in technologyo Changes in merchandising patternso General education level of a population

• Downward mobility:o Personal factors– illness, divorce, family death,

and retirement. o Changes in the economy

So who are the American billionaires?

Bill Gates- Microsoft$66 billion

Warren Buffett- Berkshire

Hathaway (owns Dairy Queen, Helzberg

Diamonds, Fruit of the

Loom) $46 billion

So who are the American billionaires?

Larry Ellison- Oracle (3rd largest software producer to Microsoft and IBM)

$41 billion

Koch brothers- diversified (Georgia-

Pacific)

$31 billion

So who are the American billionaires?

Walton Family: Wal-Mart

$26.1-27.9 billion

Michael Bloomberg-

Bloomberg LP (acquired Businessweek)

$25 billion

So who are the American billionaires?

Jeff Bezos- Amazon.com $23.2 billion

Sheldon Adelson- Las Vegas Sands

casino$20.5 billion

So who are the American billionaires?

Sergey Brin and Larry Page- Google

$20.3 billion

George Soros- hedge funds (ManU, Washington Nationals)

$19 billion