DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - What is your image of each social class ?

**Suvaxal** · 09-01-2012, 12:48 PM

Another good model of social classes is the one proposed by William Lloyd Warner in his 1949 book "Social classes in America". It is still very valid nowadays. The Warnerian division of society comprises 7 classes :

I mostly agree, but I insist that class is still more a matter of values, manners and mindset (i.e. education in its broadest sense) than job description or salary. IMHO, this classification is too much salary-based, as the "lower-upper-class" category suggests.

Another American, Paul Fussell classifies Americans according to the following classes:

Well when you started this thread you didn't divide the upper class into two sections, so I wasn't wrong in my perception of my classification of the upper-class.

I agree, atlthough there is not much necessity dividing the already tiny number of people making up 1 and 2. Another thing I find strange is that manual workers are divided in 3 categories, but the more varied middle class only makes one category. 8 and 9 is what I call the underclass.

Based on these two models, I will attempt a new model with as many strata as necessary to describe society, although they do not really match what I consider to be classes. Let's just call it a division of the socio-economic strata, regardless of people's education.

1. Top Upper Class : "Old money." People who have been born into and raised with (extreme) wealth; mostly consits of old noble or prestigious families.
2. Upper Class : rich CEOs, diplomats, people who can afford full-time domestic staff. Mostly "new money", but with high education as well as power in society.
3. Nouveau riches : all the celebrities who have become rich and famous thanks to the arts or sports, make extravagent disply of their money, but lack the economic or political power of the above.
4. Upper-Middle Class : well-educated professionals (lawyers, doctors, engineers, bank managers, accountants, professors, interpreters, airline pilots...)
5. Middle Class : skilled non-manual workers (non-management office workers, nurses, school teachers, flight attendants, etc.) as well as shop assistants, sales people and other less specialised job requiring a good presentation.
6. Lower Middle Class : skilled manual workers (plumbers, carpenters, electricians, mecanics, farmers, taxi/bus/truck drivers, etc.), as well as fire-fighters, sports trainers/teachers, etc. All the messy or sweaty job which require skills and have reasonable (or even very good) salaries.
7. Upper Lower Class : low-skilled, low-paid jobs (supermarket cashier, cleaner, low-rank police officer, waste collector, etc.)
8. Lower Class : low-skilled, low-paid and tough manual jobs (low-skilled factory workers, peasants in poor countries, etc.), and the other working poor.
9. Underclass : the destitutes (homeless, beggars...)
10. The outclassed : the criminals (murderers, rapists, gangsters, robbers...)
I like this classification of yours about social class better than your previous.

09-01-2012, 12:48 PM	#20
Suvaxal Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 515 Senior Member	Another good model of social classes is the one proposed by William Lloyd Warner in his 1949 book "Social classes in America". It is still very valid nowadays. The Warnerian division of society comprises 7 classes : I mostly agree, but I insist that class is still more a matter of values, manners and mindset (i.e. education in its broadest sense) than job description or salary. IMHO, this classification is too much salary-based, as the "lower-upper-class" category suggests. Another American, Paul Fussell classifies Americans according to the following classes: Well when you started this thread you didn't divide the upper class into two sections, so I wasn't wrong in my perception of my classification of the upper-class. I agree, atlthough there is not much necessity dividing the already tiny number of people making up 1 and 2. Another thing I find strange is that manual workers are divided in 3 categories, but the more varied middle class only makes one category. 8 and 9 is what I call the underclass. Based on these two models, I will attempt a new model with as many strata as necessary to describe society, although they do not really match what I consider to be classes. Let's just call it a division of the socio-economic strata, regardless of people's education. 1. Top Upper Class : "Old money." People who have been born into and raised with (extreme) wealth; mostly consits of old noble or prestigious families. 2. Upper Class : rich CEOs, diplomats, people who can afford full-time domestic staff. Mostly "new money", but with high education as well as power in society. 3. Nouveau riches : all the celebrities who have become rich and famous thanks to the arts or sports, make extravagent disply of their money, but lack the economic or political power of the above. 4. Upper-Middle Class : well-educated professionals (lawyers, doctors, engineers, bank managers, accountants, professors, interpreters, airline pilots...) 5. Middle Class : skilled non-manual workers (non-management office workers, nurses, school teachers, flight attendants, etc.) as well as shop assistants, sales people and other less specialised job requiring a good presentation. 6. Lower Middle Class : skilled manual workers (plumbers, carpenters, electricians, mecanics, farmers, taxi/bus/truck drivers, etc.), as well as fire-fighters, sports trainers/teachers, etc. All the messy or sweaty job which require skills and have reasonable (or even very good) salaries. 7. Upper Lower Class : low-skilled, low-paid jobs (supermarket cashier, cleaner, low-rank police officer, waste collector, etc.) 8. Lower Class : low-skilled, low-paid and tough manual jobs (low-skilled factory workers, peasants in poor countries, etc.), and the other working poor. 9. Underclass : the destitutes (homeless, beggars...) 10. The outclassed : the criminals (murderers, rapists, gangsters, robbers...) I like this classification of yours about social class better than your previous.
	Quote