Written by: Gregory Mantsios

 In American vocabulary, adjectives denoting class are avoided
 “Low class” is replaced with a person’s ethnicity, race, or geographic
location
 “Working class” identifies with a person’s employer or industry
 Class identity has been stripped from popular culture
 We are aware of class distinctions we simply don’t acknowledge
them because it is seen as un-American
 The only two exceptions to this are: Middle Class and “the wealthy”
or “the poor”
 Middle Class is used in politics to attract the broadest
constituency
 “The wealthy” and “the poor” are used as voyeuristic glimpses
into the extremes

 Myth #1: The United States is a classless society; class
distinctions are largely irrelevant; regardless of income all
Americans receive the same rights to healthcare and
education
 Myth#2: We are largely a middle class society despite
variations is economic status
 Myth #3: We are all getting richer; as a society Americans
are climbing the economic ladder; the global economy is
bringing most if not all American’s prosperity
 Myth #4: Everyone has an equal chance to succeed; success
in America only relies on hard work, perseverance, and
sacrifice

 The wealthiest 1% of American’s own 34% of the national wealth,
or 1/3 of all financial assets
 The wealthiest 20% own 85% of the household wealth
 There are nearly 400 billionaires in the US but it would take the
average American 298 lifetimes to amass $1 billion dollars
 13% or 1/8 of Americans live below the calculated poverty line
 3.5 million (1.4 of which are children) experience homelessness
 From 2003 to 2004 the yearly income for the top 1% increased by
20% while the bottom 80% only averaged and increase of 2.7%
 Between 1979 and 2003 the average income for the top 1%
increased by 111% while the middle fifth only saw an increase of
9% for the same time frame

 Reality #1: There is an enormous difference in the
economic standing of Americans; a large amount of
American’s occupy opposite ends of the economic
spectrum
 Reality #2:The middle class of American actually holds
a small share of the wealth of our country and even
that share is steadily decreasing; the gap between the
rich and the poor is greater than ever

 37 million people live in never-ending poverty
 However, American poverty is described as the “best dressed” poverty
in the world because it is nearly impossible to distinguish class from
out ward appearance
 Class differences in American dictate:
-where one lives -who their friends are
-how well they are educated -what they do for a living
-what they expect from life
 Class affects both physical and mental health with low class showing
increased rates of:
-infant mortality -arthritis
-diabetes -respiratory disease
-heart disease -eye and ear disease
-physical disability -nutritional deficiency
-mental illness

 The higher your class ranking the higher your life
expectancy
 Lower class has:
 Difficulty in finding appropriate housing
 More time spent on daily routine tasks
 A greater percentage of income going to pay for food
 A higher rate of victimization

 Reality #3: Even ignoring the extreme poles in the
economic spectrum, we are still faced with extreme
differences in the life-styles of the haves and the have-
nots
 Reality #4: From birth to death, class standing has a
significant impact on an individuals chance of survival

 Family income directly correlates to SAT score and
grades
 Students from upper-class families are twice as likely
to obtain training beyond high-school and four times
as likely to obtain a postgraduate degree
 1 in 5 people surpass the economic status of their
parents
 2/3 of people with incomes over $100,000 have
inherited family assets

 Reality #5: Class standing has a significant effect on
chances for educational achievement
 Reality #6: All Americans do not have an equal
opportunity to succeed

 Class domination is one force behind keeping individuals from
realizing their true potential
 The class system in America is due to its economic system:
capitalism, which promotes private vs public ownership
 Enterprises produce for the owners profits instead of fulfilling
societal needs
 Class divisions arise between those who have corporate control and
those who do not
 Race and gender cause issues as well however most of these
issues cross economical gaps; poverty increases and varies by
gender and race:
-a white male has a 1/12 chance of being impoverished
-black female has 1/3 -Hispanic male has 1/5
 Being female and non-white increases the chances of being
impoverished and having a low class status

 Reality #7: Racism and sexism compound the effects of
class in society