Lower, middle, upper class?

kittylover4ever · Jan 10, 2008

Can someone please explain the difference to me??? Is it a money thing??? I mean, they make it sound like being low class is a bad thing......

Now low class to me is about no manners, no morals, and I've known plenty of $$$$ people who have none.......

gingersmom · Jan 10, 2008

Ah yes, America's caste system.

It's all about money.

Upper class is rich, middle class is just barely getting by to comfortable, and lower class is at or below the poverty line.

I grew up lower-middle class, with the understanding that the American Dream was within my reach. As I grew older and older, though, that dream has remained elusive, forever beyond my outstretched fingers, because inflation and the cost of living has caused me to live paycheck to paycheck, unable to ever "get ahead."

The middle class is shrinking, while the upperclass mostly stays the same and the lower class grows and grows. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class continue to dream while living the daily grind.

It isn't about "having" class, it's about a social hierarchy based upon income - or lack of one.

katiemae1277 · Jan 10, 2008

it's about net worth, Susie, but I'm not sure they call the poorest folks lower-class, I think they just call them poor, or the working poor, cause like you said, low-class to me means someone, well, not classy

EnzoLeya · Jan 10, 2008

I would say the middle class lives comfortably..... I hear there's an upper and lower middle class. Middle class can live very well if they spend in their price range.

Lower class......I've met a few people who think they are upper class when in my eyes they are lower class. One lady I met lived in a trailer house (not that there is anything wrong with that) but she let her animals potty inside the house, barely had a running car shared between the couple, and coudn't afford the internet/computer/tv.

I about laughed when she told me she sees herself as upper class......but she wasn't joking.

hopehacker · Jan 10, 2008

I came from an upper middle class home. I'd say we were just shy of being what you would call really well off. However, now that I'm on my own, I'd have to say I'm in the lower class bracket. Not quite poor enough to be on welfare or get food stamps or subsidized housing, but not much better off than most people on welfare. The difference is, I work 40 plus hours. I can honestly say, it's not much fun AT ALL to be on the lower class end of the scale.

I don't however, consider myself a low class person. I'm just poor.

rosiemac · Jan 10, 2008

Heres the UK's thoughts on it

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4974460.stm

Like Enzoleya said, to me middle class is someone who is able to live comfortably with no real money worries.

Upper class are your high society people.

Lower class are people who live on the breadline wondering where their next meal is coming from

persi & alley · Jan 10, 2008

Originally Posted by GingersMom

Ah yes, America's caste system.

It's all about money.

Yep, it's all about money.

natalie_ca · Jan 10, 2008

Originally Posted by GingersMom

Ah yes, America's caste system.

It's all about money.

Upper class is rich, middle class is just barely getting by to comfortable, and lower class is at or below the poverty line.

I grew up lower-middle class, with the understanding that the American Dream was within my reach. As I grew older and older, though, that dream has remained elusive, forever beyond my outstretched fingers, because inflation and the cost of living has caused me to live paycheck to paycheck, unable to ever "get ahead."

The middle class is shrinking, while the upperclass mostly stays the same and the lower class grows and grows. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class continue to dream while living the daily grind.

It isn't about "having" class, it's about a social hierarchy based upon income - or lack of one.

Well put!

The rich get richer because they can afford to shelter their money in tax exempt investment funds, and the government is constantly giving them tax breaks.

The middle class get poorer because they have a continuous vicious cycle of credit and high interest rates and they don't often have excess income to shelter in tax exempt investments partly because they are paying extra money out to creditors.

Low income earners can't get ahead because everything keeps going up in price around them, leaving them even further behind.

lunasmom · Jan 10, 2008

Yup - its money, money money.

The "low class" that you've mention is more a stereotype of low class rather than low class.

Whether you're rich, poor, or middle class, every group has a nose picker. It just depends on if you pick your nose yourself or can afford to have someone else to do it for you

fred&nermal · Jan 10, 2008

Food for thought: where does an artist fit into all this? An artist may only make $10 000 or less a year and have to rely on grants, minimum wages etc. to survive. However, I definetly wouldn't call an artist (painter, musician, etc.) as lower class. What about someone who dedicates their life to charity work, but makes little in return?

Class also involves things like education (schooling or self-educated), morals, standards, quality of life in the sense of what one gives back to society, even individuality and courage.

The terms "upper, middle and lower" are pretty lose terms, and I think are more general then they are literal. Even dangerous to an extent as these terms allow for stereotyping and even, in some instances, prejudice.

ryn · Jan 10, 2008

In my book, lower class means people with little education and manners. They may be poor or well off, it doesn't matter. I consider myself middle class: I have education (and manners I hope

), but no money beyond comfortable daily needs. Upper class people are people with education, manners and lot's of money.

theimp98 · Jan 10, 2008

lol in terms of middle class, it would have been better to call it the working class. at the time anyway.

my meormy could be wrong, if you make below $20,000 a year for a familiy of 4 you fall into the poverty range. above that you would be seen as middle class,

the term low class, means someone that picks there nose and eats it at the dinner table lol

jennyr · Jan 11, 2008

To say it is all about money is a terrific over-simplification, IMO. There are plumbers who are earning over Â£100,000 ($200,000) and aristocrats living in dire poverty in leaking houses. The difference between them is that the plumber probably flaunts his money on flashy cars etc and the upperclass do anything to hide their poverty. Class is a combination of money, attitudes, education and the type of work (or unemployment) you do. And above all, what class your parents were, because though some people do change their class, the vast majority don't. Many writers and journalists have tried to analyse class, sometimes humorously, sometimes seriously and it is a very complicated subject. But you can be sure that almost all of us, on meeting someone, can tell if they are the same class as us or not!

natalie_ca · Jan 11, 2008

Here is a link to some information on "Social Classes"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class

gailc · Jan 11, 2008

There was an interesting book I've recently read called "Richistan" by Robert Frank which is about the lifestyles of the nearly rich net worth one -two million, the rich (up to five million) and the really rich (net worth over 10 million). It was quite interesting.
Even the wealthy are rich enough!!

butzie · Jan 11, 2008

I think that classes are not just specific to money. They are also about the education and social skills. I grew up lower middle class (and I knew exactly what classes were), got a graduate degree and married an upper class man with similar education. My late MIL never accepted me because I wasn't in their class. I have manners and social skills and had a professional job but she always thought that her son married "down."

zissou'smom · Jan 11, 2008

IMO, there are really four classes in America.

There is the poverty class and don't have jobs, or the skills to get a job. Then there's the working class, for the most part completely underpaid but unable to really demand much more. Middle class, to me, is anyone who has to work for their money but can afford luxuries (new cars, owning a home, vacations, that bit). And upperclass people don't have to work for anything, though most do something-- you can't be upperclass without inheriting it, really. Even if they have business ventures or whatever, all the capital is money they didn't earn themselves.

People mostly stay in the class they were born in. And I've found, even when monetarily they aren't, they still act like it.

laureen227 · Jan 11, 2008

Originally Posted by Persi & Alley

Yep, it's all about money.

i disagree...

Originally Posted by Fred&Nermal

Class also involves things like education (schooling or self-educated), morals, standards, quality of life in the sense of what one gives back to society, even individuality and courage.

Originally Posted by butzie

I think that classes are not just specific to money. They are also about the education and social skills. I grew up lower middle class (and I knew exactly what classes were), got a graduate degree and married an upper class man with similar education. My late MIL never accepted me because I wasn't in their class. I have manners and social skills and had a professional job but she always thought that her son married "down."

my brother basically married "down", but i'm not basing that on family of origin. rather, on her behavior & expectations... this is my brother's 2nd marriage, & he has 2 sons. it's also her 2nd marriage [she was a widow] & she has 2 sons. she intensely resents the time & $ he spends on his children from his 1st marriage - to the point that he's had to bring them to my mother's house instead of his own house when it's his weekend. i think it's because, in the class she was raised in, men typically desert the children from so-called 'starter' marriages when they remarry. he won't do this - it's not how he was raised. he takes his responsibilities seriously.

kittylover4ever · Jan 11, 2008

Originally Posted by laureen227

i disagree...

i think it's because, in the class she was raised in, men typically desert the children from so-called 'starter' marriages when they remarry. he won't do this - it's not how he was raised. he takes his responsibilities seriously.

Gees, what kind of place did she grow up in????

laureen227 · Jan 11, 2008

Originally Posted by kittylover4ever

Gees, what kind of place did she grow up in????

she's basically a member of the class we refer to as 'poor white trash' [being from the South, this terminology originated because black people were simply expected to be trashy - glad that's no longer true!]. & it is quite common among the class of her family of origin for this to happen - i'm sure she thinks we're the aberration!

Lower, middle, upper class?

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