What Class Are You?
One of the few advantages of spending the first week of 2007 sick as a dog was getting the opportunity to watch the Oprah show. This past week they aired a show (originally aired last year) called “What Class Are You? Inside America’s Taboo Topic” which took a look at the realities and perceptions around the issue of class in America. What I found most interesting were the deep seated assumptions and biases people have toward determining who is or is not lower class or upper class. To hear the people on the street speak reminded me of the whole gaydar topic. That somehow we just “know” who someone else is by some preconceived notion based on how they look, speak, where the live, who they associate with, how the dress, etc. And of course because we think we “know”, we instantly paint a picture and jump on our own righteous position regarding “that” type of person.
Truly a great distinction was made between the difference of net worth versus human worth. Your value as a person has nothing to do with your net worth and as people hung up on keeping up with the Joneses and measuring “success” and “wealth” we often forget that. Or, perhaps we can’t get past that because we don’t feel our own personal sense of worth because we’re too busy doing things, comparing ourselves to others, and chasing after happiness “out there” where it can never be found anyway.
In my feverish haze on the couch it got me to thinking, what really constitutes the lower, middle, and upper class anyway? And, what the hell is lower-middle, middle-middle, and upper-middle anyway? Rich did a great little article recently called “Are You on Track? How Do You Stack Up?” which can give you perspective of where you personally fit in the proverbially bigger pie. Yet, I still wonder which class is what?
So, I went on a hunt on the web and of course immediately ended up at Wikipedia and a lengthy entry about the American Middle Class . There are lots of words on the page and if you’re a numbers or economics freak, I invite you to read it all bit by bit. I gravitated to the section on the 2005 sociology textbook, “Society in Focus” by William Thompson and Joseph Hickey who present a five tier model of socioeconomic class. That model, reproduced from Wikipedia and footnoted on their site in more detail is as follows:
- Upper class, (ca. 1%-5%) individuals with considerable power over the nation’s economic and political institutions. This groups owns an uproportional share of the nation’s resources. The top 1% had incomes exceeding $250,000 with the top 5% having household incomes exceeding $140,000. This group features strong group solidarity and is largely consitituted by the heirs to multi-generational fortunes. Prominent government officials, CEOs and successful entrepreneurs are among the upper class even if not of elite background.
Upper middle class, (ca. 15%) white collar professionals with advanced post-secondary education such as physicians, professors, lawyers, corporate executives, and other management. While households commonly have six figure incomes in this group, some one income earner households and lesser paid professionals may not. While, high educational attainment commonly serves as staple mark of this group, entrepreneurs and business owners may also be upper middle class even if lacking advanced educational attainment.
Lower middle class, (ca. 33%) individuals who worked their way through college and commonly have a Bachelor’s degree or some college education. School teachers, sales-employees and lower to mid level supervisors rank among those in this particular group. Household income is generall in the range of $30,000 to $75,000. Workers in this group are mostly white collar but have less autonomy in their work than do upper middle class professionals. Members of this class often attempt to emulate those in the two higher classes and have recently become overly indebted by their desire to have a comfortable lifestyle.
Working class, (ca. 30%) individuals who occupy both blue and white collar occupations. Pink collar workers in predominantely female clerical positions are common in this class. Job security tends to be low for this group and unemployment as well as losing health insurance remain potent economic threats. Household incomes typically range from $16,000 to $30,000.[2]
Lower class, repeated cycles of unemployment, working multiple low-level part-time jobs are common among this group. Many families fall below the poverty line from time to time when employment opportunities are scarce.
If I read between the lines and do the math, it appears that something between approximately $30,000 and $140,000 would constitute the range of the middle class. Quite a range. And, of course we know from the things we read that the middle class keeps shrinking while the bottom and top extremes get further apart. The super rich are getting massively rich and the working poor are struggling to simply stay alive. As I look at this range, I think a household earning $30,000 a year compared to one earning $140,000 a year has wildly different goals, lifestyles, and concerns. For instance, I would fathom a guess that the top end of the scale might be shopping for a set of mid-range Riedel wine glasses for the next night of entertaining while the bottom end of this scale is thrilled to treat themselves to some wine in a glass, period.
Another way to look at class is given to us by the New York Times’ Class Matters Series and the resulting book from these correspondents called “Class Matters”. What is very clear from the reader profiles and forums is that the American dream consists of earning a comfortable living, spending quality time with people/things you love, and moving up in income class. Problem is that while people are working longer and harder these ideals are even more elusive than ever. For many who are earning a good living the balance and “free time” factor seem unattainable. Moving up in this giant chasms of class is like rowing a boat upstream on a flood stage river. While moving up in class may be a stated goal, the reality is that so many people are one paycheck, layoff, illness, injury, or weather disaster away from financial ruin. Emergency funds while common sense are not common practice. And, at the lower end of the class scales just plain unattainable.
What class did you consider yourself in before reading this article? Has that shifted based on the five tier model above? What preconceived notions do you have about the upper class? the lower class? the working class? Do you make snap and sweeping judgments when you see someone driving by in a BMW? How about in a beat up old Pinto? Most importantly do you feel wealthy on the inside or are you chasing an elusive ideal that may or may not be achievable? If you knew you could never move up a class, how would you have a great life and be happy anyway?
Would love to hear your thoughts below…
What’s interesting for me is that people’s visceral sense of class is based on such a wide range of factors, often completely different. Many people make the distinction strictly on perceived income levels, and others rely more strongly on intangible measures of class, such as education, values, and aesthetic taste (“cultural capital”). The classic example is Jay Gatsby–born as Jimmy Gatz to a humble midwestern family, he remade himself as a member of the upper class by emulating upper-class affect and aesthetics, but there was still a sense that he could be unmasked, revealed as “not really one of us.”
Class in America is really endlessly fascinating.
I had often considered myself barely “lower middle class”, but after reading your article I realize that I am right smack dab in the middle of the “working class,” as if that is enough to live on. However, I do think it is livable, if I don’t have mortgage and car payments. I even believe that I can retire a millionaire, if I budget wisely and save up for everything. Of course I hope that I can move on up in “class,” but first I must get myself out of debt $1 at a time.
A friend of mine recently told me about this website. I’ve been able to look at most of the content of the site and think this is one of its most provocative and important posts.
English Major Money, you are right on target but let me connect your comments to Paula G.’s. While it is true that Gatsby is still a good example of something, plenty of consumption and distinction seeking occurs in groups and by individuals whose values are, in their minds, anti-bourgeois. The Burning Man festival is a good example. All kinds of ostensibly anti-establishmentarian marketing segments have opened up. What good “upper middle class” and “middle class” values are might now incorporate much more than Gatsby and maybe even many anti-Gatsbys. What’s key is that even anti-consumption, anti-“middle of the roadism” and anti-“aristocracyism” are vetted out through markets and consumption. How obsessed have we become with money, how it affects our daily lives and how to better spend and manage it? We try to counter consumerism with different and resistant styles of life but when’s the last time resistant styles were not easily commodified by the market? Even working class chic brands have cropped up, appealing to the middle classes bored with the Jonses. No different than the way urban styles have always held a lot of “cultural capital” for middle class youth and young adults.
I identify as a Harvard student only because I’d like to share that it’s one place you might think Gatsby still reins supreme. Not necessarily since many people are itching to precisely avoid Gatsby but do so in ways that still indicate much middle class privilege and purchasing power. Many of us succeed at constantly deluding ourselves into thinking we are not part of the classes we take to be oppressive. Paula’s asking the basic question is well taken!
The aesthetics of class have certainly changed since mid last century. Paula’s post is important because it reminds us not to forget the nitty gritty realties of economic barriers and how while styles might migrate up and down with a certain fluidity, people and families do so much less so easily! How close one lives to decent transportation, good schools and cultural resources has got to be part of any definition of class.
As for the last part of Paula’s post, the weird thing is that with the growth of working class chic, urban chic and upper middle class anti-consumerist chic, the next pair of work boats one sees might belong to a person who has a lot more in common with people with sizable income or cultural capital than with the men and women at the work site he or she passes on her way to the store. And, owning a BMW might seem too ostentatious for the true patrician or, more interestingly, too “conservative” for her young college age kid intent on distinguishing herself from the conformist ennui of suburbia. It’s not that she won’t get a car. She will! And it’s not that she will cease being upper middle class or middle class. She won’t! She’ll just be driving a Saturn. All the while there will be others who can choose between emergency funds and feeding their children.
P.S. I use the feminine gender in my writing as a matter of course. Obviously, the Jonses refers to skiing, sports car driving dads as well as soccer moms. They can even be Queer!
Class isn’t just about money, though. I’ve heard, for example, that people who prefer wine are middle class whereas people who prefer beer are working class. (I prefer milkshakes.) And I’ve heard that a lot of people with blue-collar jobs and very high incomes do not want to be called middle class because they do real work, not just paper pushing–they consider themselves working class.
I grew up with middle class values and lower- to working-class income (my parents were even on food stamps for a while–during which time we ate better that usual!).
Now I don’t think in terms of class–I hang with computer geeks even though I can’t stand the boring sound of the jobs they have. I just started making more than first-year teachers 2.5 years ago (at age 41) when I got my second giant pay raise, and according to the numbers above, that was the year I’d moved out of the working class.
At that time, I noticed it was messing with identity–I’m used to being a very frugal person who can do amazing things with my tiny income, but my income is no longer tiny.
I guess I’m a pink-collar worker. Interesting. I’m always looking for another way to answer that “What do you do for a living?” question. I’ve answered “I work at the university” and “I’m a bureaucrat” before, and now I can also try “I’m doing pink-collar work.” Yes, “pink-collar work in the education industry.” I like that!
Thanks for al the great comments…
What I find interesting about the visible elements is sometimes they are nothing but façade when people try to be a class they are not by buying themselves into financial straits.
Of course the reasons behind that & the messy results of doing that are many different posts entirely!
Warmly
Paula
http://www.digitas.harvard.edu/~perspy/old/issues/1996/mar/queer.html
This is a good article on the differences between jockeying for marketing space and effective politics. A useful reminder too that not all of us have good jobs or much economic stability to take advantage of these lifestyle niches. I know I’ve read in a few places that lesbians and transgender folk are particularly vulnerable.
I think class means something different to Americans than to Brits. From a British point of view, you defined the middle class by income rather than by culture, and the income range seems far too broad. For a start $30,000 is only about £15,000. Most graduates starting out make more (starting salary in the provinces is at least £18,000)! I would say middle class starts at about £25,000 p.a. (about $50,000).
In Britain class differences are mainly cultural – people in the different classes have different cultural styles and traditions, and the feeling is that you are born into your class/culture, you don’t move in or out of it.
A recent survey of British millionaires showed that 27% considered themselves to be “working class and proud of it”. And quite right too! Why should someone wish to reject/be ashamed of, their roots?
While it may be impossible for a reasonably workable model to include, one thing that’s not taken into account is the wide differences in cost of living in different parts of the US. $30K in NYC or San Francisco would not support a middle-class lifestyle, while in Podunk, Mississippi, it might.
In this week’s Carnival of Ethics, Values and Personal Finance:
http://tiredbuthappy.blogspot.com/2007/02/carnival-of-ethics-values-and-personal.html
I was born in the lower middle class in Britain but now I live in the US. By income ($75k), net worth ($380k), and education (PhD) I’m in the upper middle class. By some markers like multigenerational wealth I’m a member of the upper class in American terms. In Britain (where 70% of people identify as working class) I could never be considered upper class. But I pay $600 in rent I don’t have a car etc. Consumption wise no-one will think I am as high in socio-economic status as I am. Class is very complex and no one set of definitions like this will work. There are many different elites. I’m certainly a member of the educational elite – a tenured professor at a top 50 US university. That’s clearly the top 1% of the education spectrum. Income and wealth wise I’m on the edge of the top 25% in the US. How you earn your money is also important. One of Robert Kiyosaki’s ideas I like is his class classification into employees, self-employees, business-owners, and investors. A middle class business owner might have very different politics from a government employee with the same income…