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Class in America The Oprah Winfrey Show. Can you tell a person's “class” by the way they look or talk? . An audience member named Patience says she believes things like hair plastered up with hairspray, long acrylic fingernails and crude table manners are all signs of being lower class. .
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Can you tell a person's “class” by the way they look or talk?
An audience member named Patience says she believes things like hair plastered up with hairspray, long acrylic fingernails and crude table manners are all signs of being lower class.
She also says poor diction and bad grammar are class indicators. "English is our friend and so we don't have to fight it," says Patience. "You can use it to serve you—to expand your opportunities as a person."
In reality, what sets the different classes apart is more than skin deep.
Although Carrie and Erin are both stay-at-home moms living in the Chicago area, they live worlds apart.
Carrie and her husband, Jerry, are working class parents who live with their two sons (left) in Cicero, Illinois. Due to the high cost of daycare, Carrie stays home to take care of the kids while Jerry works more than 60 hours a week between two jobs.
Their neighborhood is largely made up of factories and elderly residents. Carrie says gangs and crime keep her from letting her boys play outside unsupervised.
Erin, her husband, Kip, and their five children (right) are an upper-middle class family who live in the affluent suburb of Naperville, Illinois. Erin stays busy taking care of the kids while Kip works as a managing director of insurance.
In her neighborhood, Erin says furniture, cars, engagement rings and well-manicured lawns are all signs of status. She says her neighborhood is a safe place for her kids to play outside and ride bikes unattended.
Carrie's boys (left) are not currently involved in any extracurricular activities because of the high costs, especially fees for sports. After school, the boys typically play video games, go play outside or enjoy a trip to the park.
Carrie's boys attend the public school near their home where classes are oversized and a parking lot serves as the school playground.
"For the boys' future, I hope that they do get the chance to go to college," says Carrie. "I would like them to be able to afford the things that they need and not to struggle the way I did."
Erin says a typical "crazy day" is jam-packed with sports and activities for all five children, from soccer practices to swimming classes. School is another top priority.
Erin says she and her husband chose their neighborhood (right) for the quality of schools in the district. "College is expected for all of our children," says Erin. "We want all of them to have the best education they can and to be whoever they want to be.“
Out of financial necessity, Carrie (left) says she's a big bargain shopper and can't get her kids everything they ask for. "Jerry and Caleb know that they don't just get something, that they have to earn it," says Carrie. "I feel that if you give them everything they want when they want it, that there is no learning of values."
Erin (right) says she likes to wear certain clothes and carry designer purses to fit into the upper class level. She says her kids are also touched by class—if they don't wear the right clothes, Erin says they simply won't fit in. "Our kids feel a sense of entitlement," says Erin, "If they're at the store and they want something, and I say 'No,' they say, 'Why not?'“
Carrie and Erin each have different methods for disciplining their children. "There's no talking back in our house, they know the rules and they know that that is unacceptable to us and disrespectful," says Carrie.
Erin says she wishes she could be a better disciplinarian with her kids. "I try to be strict, but unfortunately I fall back to negotiation," says Erin.
Though Robert calls the rags-to-riches story "a very important part of the American creed," he says the middle class is actually shrinking. He compares the range of incomes and classes in America to a ladder.
"That ladder is getting longer and longer and longer," Robert says. "So even though people are working harder than they ever have in their lives, they are not making it today. ... The middle rungs on that ladder are not there any longer."
According to Robert, most people end up in the same class as their parents. "We live in a society in which the most important predictor in where you're going to end up—in terms of class and also wealth—is your parents' class and their wealth.“
Through his documentary films, Jamie Johnson brings viewers inside the culture of mega rich families and exposes how they think, act and spend. As an heir to the Johnson & Johnson pharmaceutical fortune, Jamie has access to this exclusive world that 99 percent of America would never see.
Jamie says this rising inequality gap could be an ominous sign. "Historians always list a growing wealth gap among the many reasons for the decline of great civilizations," he says.
Robert Reich agrees. "Societies are fragile things, they're based on trust," he says. "If people don't feel that they have a fair chance of getting ahead...a lot of people feel excluded. That's not good for society. That doesn't keep America together."
As the country deals with one of the worst recessions in history and 13 million people face unemployment, social classes are shifting. Many Americans who once considered themselves middle class now feel closer to the bottom.
Compared to many countries, Robert Reich says, America doesn't have a strict class structure. If you're born into a low-class family in the United States, he says you can improve your social status by focusing on two factors—income and education.
SourceAll information obtained from the following sight:http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/Class-in-America
