What is Class?
For years, class has been a taboo topic.
Class is a relative social rank in terms of income, wealth, education, status/position, and/or power. Class is also called “social class.”
Class affects people not only on an economic level, but also on an emotional level. Class is a culture.
Class is comprised of economic capital (how much you have), social capital (who you know), and cultural capital (what you know).
Our felt experience often varies depending on whether we look up or down the class continuum.
There are no hard and fast divisions between class groups. Income, wealth, and occupational status are on spectrums, and most of us move a little up or down the spectrums during our lifetimes. Immigrants can change class status from their country of origin to their new country. Some people grow up in one class and live as adults in another. Class operates along a continuum or hierarchy.
Lines may be drawn at different points along this continuum, and positions can be labeled differently. Class is a relative thing, both subjectively (how we feel) and objectively (in terms of position or resources). Our felt experience often varies depending on whether we look up or down the class continuum. However, it is clear that everyone at the top end is mostly dominant with respect to class and gets substantial benefit and privilege, while everyone at the bottom end is mostly subordinate and has limited access to resources and opportunities.
For years, class has been a taboo topic. Partly that’s because there’s been a lack of clarity or understanding of class. There’s a lack of shared language around class. And there are a lot of myths and misconceptions around class mobility and the American Dream.
When we talk about class mobility and meritocracy, we’re talking about just the tip of the iceberg, what we can see above the water line. Still largely believing that America is essentially a “classless” society where hard work results in great rewards, many ignore or deny the existence of class barriers and class privilege. They credit individuals for all of their successes and blame individuals for all of their failures. Does individual effort matter? Sure. But the bulk of what helps or hinders class mobility is invisible to most of us. It’s under the water.
In addition to hard work, the amount of capital—economic, social, and cultural – that a person or family has or has access to can deeply affect his or her chances for success. Likewise, institutional classism and racism can deeply hinder their chances for success.
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