Americans Judge Social Class | Hacker News Reader

Americans Judge Social Class

scientificamerican.com

2 pointsubac5 comments

I'd love to know the markers and divisions of American social classes. This would be fascinating - though I wouldn't recommend taking a Facebook test that offers to tell you where you lay

It's a bit out of date but this book is really interesting on American social class: https://smile.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-Syste...

> though I wouldn't recommend taking a Facebook test that offers to tell you where you lay

hahah, indeed....

One of the foundational myths of America is that there is no social class but wealth.

I suspect that it was never true, though having spent some time in the UK, it is more true in America by far.

However, social class still exists here.

Case in point: to certain groups of people, Donald Trump represents what they think of as a "regular guy" with tons of money. He's "rich", but not "elite" in their minds.

To other people, he looks like a "low class" rich guy -- which sounds very similar, but is the negative-on-Trump view of the same basic notion.

(I'm taking a risk using Trump as an example, because he is so polarising that some folks might read this and think I'm either praising or attacking him. I'm not. I have an opinion, which I will not share here. But Trump is an example of someone in the highest wealth category without being in the highest social class, according to both many supporters and many detractors.)

There aren't titles of nobility in the US. Supposedly everyone is equal (under law), but as we often are witness to, some people seem to be more "equal" than others (under law) and this spreads to social class. Money and connections are the American titles of nobility.

Trump has always struck me as Steve Martin's character in 'The Jerk' in the sense that he is trying to fit into the higher classes but failing miserably (i.e. Martin insisting on umbrellas in all of his drinks)

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