The American Class System

The ruling class -top of America s society -a good family name, which could be traced back to the WASPs* -social, political and financial power until today -professionals (doctors, lawyers) -business executives -managers -technologists The upper middle class -people who are wealthy and often have a doctor s degree -schoolteachers -social workers -small businessmen -shopkeepers -white-collar workers (clerks) -blue-collar workers (skilled craftsmen) The middle class -backbone of the nation -quantitatively and qualitatively the most powerful force -have improved their economic situation -obtained skilled jobs -moved into well-to-do-suburbs -a decade after the violent sixties a third of the Blacks managed it to belong to this class -assembly-line factory workers -deliverymen -truck drivers -miners -janitors -shop assistants The working class -regularly employed or semi-skilled workers -unemployed -casual labourers -migrant farm workers -the poor The poor class/ the underclass -looked down by everybody else -live in miserable conditions, in shabby downtown areas -mostly Blacks or Hispanics ...