Social Class: How do you know what social class do you belong to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have social classes here. Now you know.

Lol

Yes, we do.

While it’s not as clear cut as in other countries, the USA still has classes.

An overly simplistic way to explain:

-Blue collar vs white collar…but there’s a big gray area since many blue collar workers can amass a fortune and outpace many white collar professionals. To wit: my plumber lives in a nearly $2M home, owns vacation homes in his “home” country plus at the DE beaches, sends his kids to private school, and owns a portfolio of rentals that he flipped. If you saw him roll up in his truck, you’d never realize he’s so wealthy. (He told me he nets $1M/year.)

-By neighborhood

-By schools

-By education (college/advanced degrees)

-By country club(s)

-By status

Old money is a completely different animal. Truly old money status that has been sustained and grown over 4-5 generations is in its own class.

This can all be changed in one person’s lifetime. You can be born poor and end up wealthy.

It’s less of a class and more of a current designation, if you care about such things. And, you shouldn’t care about such things.

This. Class in the US is not really about class as much as wealth. And unlike other cultures, there is very little real influence that is exclusive to “old” money that can’t be had with new money.

While OPs post does reveal their immigrant mindset, I give them credit for being more honest about their downward social mobility than American born natives in the same position.

Not everyone in the social register is wealthy. But they are certainly old family.
Old families and old money has cachet and gravitas that new money can't buy.

Where? If you can’t afford the lifestyle or keep up you will get left behind.

I think they just descend into middle class working stiffs. But the cultural capital still opens doors for the next generation. Look at the Auchinclosses, the Burdens and more locally to DC, the Grovsnors and the Harrimans.

Or maybe look to LA or San Francisco where it’s irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

I came from working class. Neither parent finished high school. I have a law degree, my spouse has a graduate degree, all four of our children have master's degrees, and all of their husbands have that and more. I have a net worth of around $10 million, and all of our kids and their spouses make over six figures.

I consider us to be upper middle class at a minimum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have social classes here. Now you know.

Lol

Yes, we do.

While it’s not as clear cut as in other countries, the USA still has classes.

An overly simplistic way to explain:

-Blue collar vs white collar…but there’s a big gray area since many blue collar workers can amass a fortune and outpace many white collar professionals. To wit: my plumber lives in a nearly $2M home, owns vacation homes in his “home” country plus at the DE beaches, sends his kids to private school, and owns a portfolio of rentals that he flipped. If you saw him roll up in his truck, you’d never realize he’s so wealthy. (He told me he nets $1M/year.)

-By neighborhood

-By schools

-By education (college/advanced degrees)

-By country club(s)

-By status

Old money is a completely different animal. Truly old money status that has been sustained and grown over 4-5 generations is in its own class.

This can all be changed in one person’s lifetime. You can be born poor and end up wealthy.

It’s less of a class and more of a current designation, if you care about such things. And, you shouldn’t care about such things.

This. Class in the US is not really about class as much as wealth. And unlike other cultures, there is very little real influence that is exclusive to “old” money that can’t be had with new money.

While OPs post does reveal their immigrant mindset, I give them credit for being more honest about their downward social mobility than American born natives in the same position.

Not everyone in the social register is wealthy. But they are certainly old family.
Old families and old money has cachet and gravitas that new money can't buy.

Where? If you can’t afford the lifestyle or keep up you will get left behind.

I think they just descend into middle class working stiffs. But the cultural capital still opens doors for the next generation. Look at the Auchinclosses, the Burdens and more locally to DC, the Grovsnors and the Harrimans.

Or maybe look to LA or San Francisco where it’s irrelevant.

LA and SF are irrelevant to a lot of people too. SF is an American version of Middle East oil money and gauche expressions of self importance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I came from working class. Neither parent finished high school. I have a law degree, my spouse has a graduate degree, all four of our children have master's degrees, and all of their husbands have that and more. I have a net worth of around $10 million, and all of our kids and their spouses make over six figures.

I consider us to be upper middle class at a minimum.

Cool story bro.

[Anonymous]

There's a post about this shit once a month, usually on the Relationships board (bc it's framed as "How to find a UMC man") and almost always by an immigrant woman. Why? Do other countries care about this and I've just never noticed?

[Anonymous]

Look in your wallet

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:None of this will matter once we finally eliminate income inequality completely.

It’s the number 1 problem facing the U.S. today.

Income inequality isn’t a problem. People who think they can skip education but need $300 sneakers are the problem. Beyond food security and basic shelter we don’t need equality. Leave this country if you don’t agree with its founding principles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who think class is either your manners, or a rigid social hierarchy from the classist societies of the past are both missing the point. Modern class is not about who your great grandparents were or how nice you are to other people.

Modern class is really the socio-economic cultural group you belong to. The PP who commented people can decide what class they want to be part of is correct up to a point, you can seemingly be part of your preferred socio-economic group as long as 1) you can afford it and 2) you adhere to its rules and expectations. Examples of socio-economic cultural groups:

Country club Republicans /SEC fraternities and sororities in the South

NYT/NPR/canvas tote bags/Brooklyn fetishers and their followers nationally

Self driven corporate executives and professionals in groomed newer suburbia

Rural and small town working class whites

Urban poor African Americans

Bicoastal upper middle class liberal white women with advanced degrees

Affluent self made new money California and Florida.

Upper middle to upper class black professionals

This short list of examples shows the US compromises of many disparate socio-economic cultural groups. But they do not fall into pecking orders with implications of hierarchies of superiority and inferiority, because none of the groups defers to any others but lives wholly to themselves.

Class is race?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Using myself as an example. Immigrant that has been in the States for 25 years now. When I was a kid growing up my father was in a profession that was pretty high status. We lived in beautiful homes in posh neighborhoods around the world and attending private school with children of government officials, CEOs, and the global elite.

However my father was self made and did not have any generational wealth. His chosen profession, although prestigious and elevated our family status and lifestyle, was not something like investment banking where you can amass a lot of wealth.

So when he retired...our lifestyle shifted dramatically. So here we are my siblings and I, literally with champagne tastes and beer budget if you will.

2 of them married rich so because of our lifestyle growing up, easily and smoothly integrated into the upper class families of their spouses.

The other two of us are UMC/MC professionals. We are pretty class conscious and class confused.

Wonder if anyone has been through something similar and has any advice.

In America, you have the opportunity to decide what class you are in. If you believe it, you're in it. It's not externally imposed on you like everywhere else. It's why everyone immigrates here.

+1. There are many people in America who have lots of money but no class; while there are many who are very poor but have a lot of class. Class is decided by how you conduct yourself.

No it's not. There is no class system here. You can buy your way in wherever you want. And if you're poor, nobody cares how classy you are.

Not true. Poor people who are jumping classes aren’t getting there by poor behaviors with the exception of rappers, YouTubers and certain other entertainers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Using myself as an example. Immigrant that has been in the States for 25 years now. When I was a kid growing up my father was in a profession that was pretty high status. We lived in beautiful homes in posh neighborhoods around the world and attending private school with children of government officials, CEOs, and the global elite.

However my father was self made and did not have any generational wealth. His chosen profession, although prestigious and elevated our family status and lifestyle, was not something like investment banking where you can amass a lot of wealth.

So when he retired...our lifestyle shifted dramatically. So here we are my siblings and I, literally with champagne tastes and beer budget if you will.

2 of them married rich so because of our lifestyle growing up, easily and smoothly integrated into the upper class families of their spouses.

The other two of us are UMC/MC professionals. We are pretty class conscious and class confused.

Wonder if anyone has been through something similar and has any advice.

In America, you have the opportunity to decide what class you are in. If you believe it, you're in it. It's not externally imposed on you like everywhere else. It's why everyone immigrates here.

+1. There are many people in America who have lots of money but no class; while there are many who are very poor but have a lot of class. Class is decided by how you conduct yourself.

No it's not. There is no class system here. You can buy your way in wherever you want. And if you're poor, nobody cares how classy you are.

I am guessing you are not from the US. Just because classes in the US are not official with land titles or identifiable by last name does not indicate the absence of social class in the US. In US social class is determined not primarily by heredity, but rather by a combination of education, career, assets, social capital, proximity to power, geography, and race. A wealthy, home-owning plumber in DC is going to be considered of a lower social status than an assistant professor at Georgetown, even though the latter may be in debt and rent a studio apartment.

Says who? And what’s their enforcement mechanism?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Americans don't think about this.

This. People sort of just gravitate to people they get along with. Only strivers and gold diggers care about this stuff.

+1 who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Using myself as an example. Immigrant that has been in the States for 25 years now. When I was a kid growing up my father was in a profession that was pretty high status. We lived in beautiful homes in posh neighborhoods around the world and attending private school with children of government officials, CEOs, and the global elite.

However my father was self made and did not have any generational wealth. His chosen profession, although prestigious and elevated our family status and lifestyle, was not something like investment banking where you can amass a lot of wealth.

So when he retired...our lifestyle shifted dramatically. So here we are my siblings and I, literally with champagne tastes and beer budget if you will.

2 of them married rich so because of our lifestyle growing up, easily and smoothly integrated into the upper class families of their spouses.

The other two of us are UMC/MC professionals. We are pretty class conscious and class confused.

Wonder if anyone has been through something similar and has any advice.

In America, you have the opportunity to decide what class you are in. If you believe it, you're in it. It's not externally imposed on you like everywhere else. It's why everyone immigrates here.

+1. There are many people in America who have lots of money but no class; while there are many who are very poor but have a lot of class. Class is decided by how you conduct yourself.

No it's not. There is no class system here. You can buy your way in wherever you want. And if you're poor, nobody cares how classy you are.

Not true. Poor people who are jumping classes aren’t getting there by poor behaviors with the exception of rappers, YouTubers and certain other entertainers

Not exactly. Nice people aren’t allowed to stay at their class level if they can’t afford it. There are no gatekeepers keeping people in or out. People just make their own social circles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Using myself as an example. Immigrant that has been in the States for 25 years now. When I was a kid growing up my father was in a profession that was pretty high status. We lived in beautiful homes in posh neighborhoods around the world and attending private school with children of government officials, CEOs, and the global elite.

However my father was self made and did not have any generational wealth. His chosen profession, although prestigious and elevated our family status and lifestyle, was not something like investment banking where you can amass a lot of wealth.

So when he retired...our lifestyle shifted dramatically. So here we are my siblings and I, literally with champagne tastes and beer budget if you will.

2 of them married rich so because of our lifestyle growing up, easily and smoothly integrated into the upper class families of their spouses.

The other two of us are UMC/MC professionals. We are pretty class conscious and class confused.

Wonder if anyone has been through something similar and has any advice.

In America, you have the opportunity to decide what class you are in. If you believe it, you're in it. It's not externally imposed on you like everywhere else. It's why everyone immigrates here.

+1. There are many people in America who have lots of money but no class; while there are many who are very poor but have a lot of class. Class is decided by how you conduct yourself.

No it's not. There is no class system here. You can buy your way in wherever you want. And if you're poor, nobody cares how classy you are.

I am guessing you are not from the US. Just because classes in the US are not official with land titles or identifiable by last name does not indicate the absence of social class in the US. In US social class is determined not primarily by heredity, but rather by a combination of education, career, assets, social capital, proximity to power, geography, and race. A wealthy, home-owning plumber in DC is going to be considered of a lower social status than an assistant professor at Georgetown, even though the latter may be in debt and rent a studio apartment.

So everywhere people can make friends? Is the plumber high class if he lives in spring Valley and hosts posh events?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I think of it:

If you don't have access to sufficient funds to provide for basic needs, you're poor.

If you earn money but live paycheck to paycheck, you're working class.

If you are primarily a wage earner but own a home and are able to financially prioritize things like health and your kids' education, you're middle class.

If your money makes money for you, i.e. you live off capital instead of wage earnings, you're rich.

There are a million different varieties here that Americans spend a lot of time bickering over, because we don't have the kind of social consistency of class that exists in other countries. That's mostly a good thing, but it also means that a wealthy person can put on a cowboy hat, call himself working class, and claim that a single mother working paycheck to paycheck as a nurse is not because she makes a low six figure salary.

Ok so let’s say we have couple number one: obese Walmart shoppers who never go anywhere or do anything with tens of millions in the bank
Couple number two has an elegant appearance, expensive possessions, flies first class to their home country all the time but they are actually in a huge amount of debt and have nothing in the bank
Who’s higher class?

The frequent fliers. Class is a group noun. If you don’t associate with a class you aren’t in one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's how I think of it:

If you don't have access to sufficient funds to provide for basic needs, you're poor.

If you earn money but live paycheck to paycheck, you're working class.

If you are primarily a wage earner but own a home and are able to financially prioritize things like health and your kids' education, you're middle class.

If your money makes money for you, i.e. you live off capital instead of wage earnings, you're rich.

There are a million different varieties here that Americans spend a lot of time bickering over, because we don't have the kind of social consistency of class that exists in other countries. That's mostly a good thing, but it also means that a wealthy person can put on a cowboy hat, call himself working class, and claim that a single mother working paycheck to paycheck as a nurse is not because she makes a low six figure salary.

Ok so let’s say we have couple number one: obese Walmart shoppers who never go anywhere or do anything with tens of millions in the bank
Couple number two has an elegant appearance, expensive possessions, flies first class to their home country all the time but they are actually in a huge amount of debt and have nothing in the bank
Who’s higher class?

The frequent fliers. Class is a group noun. If you don’t associate with a class you aren’t in one.

Now you’re saying class is optional?