CLASS IN THE UNITED STATES 2
Class in the United States
A class in a society entails a subjectively set of defined concepts in political perspectives,
social sciences, and economics theories. It centers on social stratification models in which groups
of people are classified into social, political, and economic hierarchical categories. The most
common categories are upper, middle, and lower classes. People exist in these three classes all
over the societies of the world. Sub-categories deviate from these three major classes such as
upper middle, middle-middle, and lower middle sub-classes (Nettels, 2015). The American
society, like many other societies across the world, is highly polarized along the class theory.
Classism is the order of the day. In America, a class constitutes a group of people sharing
economic, social, and political spheres or positions in the society.
Class is an important topic to study in the United States because it influences people’s
lives immensely. It classifies groups of people based on their wealth, income, property
ownership, education, job status, skills, and power in both the sociopolitical and economic
hemispheres (Carlson & England, 2011). However, class in America is not only influences by
economic capital (what an individual owns or earns), but also cultural (what an individual
knows) and socio capital (who an individual knows). Class is largely consequential in the lives of
Americans. It influences people on the personal and emotional levels – not only in economic
terms.
Class, therefore, affects the way Americans feel about themselves and others. In essence,
studying class in the nation invokes an understanding why certain groups of people from specific
areas behave in a particular way (Korgen, 2010). Through the concept of classism, it could help
in understanding why the society treats people differently and with extreme disparity. Many
social scientists have linked classism to other forms of oppressions such as sexism, racism,
