Social Class in America | INFJ Forum

Social Class in America

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I am starting this thread due to popular demand.

When I was younger I went through a time when I wanted to optimise power by doing as little work as possible in order to continue to do as little work as possible in other areas of my life. This pursuit led me to read certain boks and such and one of them is called ' [ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0671792253/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER"]Class: A Guide Through the American Status System[/ame]' which talks about the ideosyncrisities (if that is the right term to use) of determining ones social class in America. It is pretty interesting and if I could find it ( I have a messy room right now) I would quote it.

The things I had fun reading were when things would be listed like a low prole wears t-shirts with legible writing and the higher you get class-wise the more illegible the writing until it turns to monograms and patterns and at the very top there are no such things, only hand made one of a kind clothes that fit perfectly.

Granted that my main interest in most things is how a person looks or is dressed, this thread needs to point out that people of certain classes (the book divides America into 9 classes... or does America do the dividing hmm....) people of certrain classes act certain ways. People at the bottom get to act however they want cause they have nothing to lose, people at the top act how they want - which is civilized and "bland". But the top can act however they want also and just call it excentric cause they have so much money it doesnt really matter. It is the people in the middle who act like the real buttholes. The middle class try to do their best to act how they percieve the rich would act, which is like a butthole, so that they might fit better into , and hopefully one day be accepted into that class strata. They do this by never being offensive (AKA being politically correct, kissing ass, going to "the best" schools (which the book mentions that the upper class only go to school to get mediocre grades and to socialize with others of their own class. But that is a different topic), getting into massive dept and then losing it all.

Well thats all I feel like writing. Please comment enjoy.
 
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I have no money and wear clothing without words on them, what class does that make me?
 
I have no money and wear clothing without words on them, what class does that make me?


From what I have seen in photos and basing it only on your clothes and money you are a low prole.
 
Ok I'm curious. You see me often. What would I be classified as?
 
I hope I'm a low prole!
 
Ok I'm curious. You see me often. What would I be classified as?
A male Joan Rivers.



The ranking is as follows

Out of sight upper class
upper class

upper middle
middle
lower middle

high pole
mid prole
low prole

low class
out of sight low class

I think that is about right.
 
what is prole?
 
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What does a high prole dress like?


Like just blue jeans and clothes with like an addidas symbol on it, instead of a the brand name written out and also clothes without catchy saying on them from tshirthell.com. Also clothes should be pretty new looking.
 
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There is something I noticed when I was young in two people:

1. A religious priest (priest with vows of poverty and obedience): he was from the top class by birth, but chose to live complete poverty, obedience, and chastity. He was my favourite priest I ever knew because there was something so simple, humble and peaceful about him. Even though the other priests lived the same way, he did it unself-consciously and without effort. I don't understand why, but perhaps the very top classes (different from the richest people) aren't really interested in money or status?

2. A homeless alcoholic, who would come over to my parent's place for dinner every now and then. There was something about him that reminded me about the priest I mentioned - he was so kind and content and even though my parents were very well off, he never asked for anything and they never pestered him to try to get him to accept anything. We were just good friends, to the extent that my brother and I would call him 'Uncle M......' Aparently my parents met him when they first moved to the city we grew up in. The point is, he was also completely detached about money or status or anything like that.
 
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There is something I noticed when I was young in two people:

1. A religious priest (priest with vows of poverty and obedience): he was from the top class by birth, but chose to live complete poverty, obedience, and chastity. He was my favourite priest I ever knew because there was something so simple, humble and peaceful about him. Even though the other priests lived the same way, he did it unself-consciously and without effort. I don't understand why, but perhaps the very top classes (different from the richest people) aren't really interested in money or status?

2. A homeless alcoholic, who would come over to my parent's place for dinner every now and then. There was something about him that reminded me about the priest I mentioned - he was so kind and content and even though my parents were very well off, he never asked for anything and they never pestered him to try to get him to accept anything. We were just good friends, to the extent that my brother and I would call him 'Uncle M......' Aparently my parents met him when they first moved to the city we grew up in. The point is, he was also completely detached about money or status or anything like that.


Yes, social class isnt determined by money alone. People of different classes talk in different ways, spend their money on different things, do certain sports, etc and can be identified by these things. Its not about money per say but money is a small factor among many other things that go into the equation.