Middle class. How do you define it? (Beverly Hills, Kennedy: rent, daycare)

[Palindromed]

Class is earned not by the amount of money or material possessions you own, but rather by how you treated and helped others in your lifetime for the good of man. If you do it correctly, you will naturally earn the respect and admiration of others.

THAT IS WHAT REALLY IS CLASS.

[emailvasally]

Originally Posted by UseJeff

Merry Commercialness! Hrm did I say that out loud? Think we'll start hearing the holiday music before Halloween this year? or just after?

I just saw a sign counting down the weeks until xmas yesterday! You would think they would at least wait until summer is over!

[tande1n5]

Something that drives the blurred lines of middle class is everyone's outward desire to join it. Weather you're looking up or down at middle class from your vantage point, it is widely considered best taste to describe yourself as it. I've done well, but I'm not pretentious is that sort of thing.

Electronics and modern things aside, leave it to beaver's house probably also had formica countertops and linoleum flooring. Both are readily available, but undesirable nowadays, not because it's out of style, but because it's not upscale. You also made a line to the bathroom every morning to get ready because you had one, and if your parents were fancy, maybe they had their own. Now, you can find apartments with granite. Is this a case of people being too lavish? Yes, but as much as it is that, it's also just an improvement in quality of life. With the world as small as it is today, products and ideas can penetrate much further into the markets than it could have back then.

[novaman]

Originally Posted by xl5

Middle class is what Americans call Working class.

If you have to work for a living you are working class.

If you were born into money, position and power then you are upper class.

If you live on state hand outs then you are the Underclass.

If you think it is possible to move from one class to another then you are class.

I like that.....Nowadays there really is no correlation between class and having class. We need look no further than the front pages of US magazine and those upper class icons of today: Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Britney Spears.

[Reivax]

Originally Posted by xl5

Middle class is what Americans call Working class.

If you have to work for a living you are working class.

If you were born into money, position and power then you are upper class.

If you live on state hand outs then you are the Underclass.

If you think it is possible to move from one class to another then you are .

I like the definition, but don't agree with the last part.
Surely you know that many presidents, world-renowned entrepreneurs and "captains of industry" came from dirt-floored shacks, right?

[LDDiamondGirl]

" Princeton doesn't have exclusive access to special books and business secrets. You get the same education over at University of Phoenix night school. "

Now that's an interesting opinion. My husband is sure that people who go to Princeton, et.al, are better educated. He's sure you can't get an education like it anywhere else which is why all grads get such good jobs based on their GPA's. Is that true? Or is he just an academic snob? There is such a thing, I am seeing. The academics are just as bad, if not worse, than the Fashionistas with the Louis Vuitton purses and accessories. It's the same thing. Of course, they'll deny it. But it's the same.

[novaman]

Originally Posted by LDDiamondGirl

" Princeton doesn't have exclusive access to special books and business secrets. You get the same education over at University of Phoenix night school. "

Now that's an interesting opinion. My husband is sure that people who go to Princeton, et.al, are better educated. He's sure you can't get an education like it anywhere else which is why all grads get such good jobs based on their GPA's. Is that true? Or is he just an academic snob? There is such a thing, I am seeing. The academics are just as bad, if not worse, than the Fashionistas with the Louis Vuitton purses and accessories. It's the same thing. Of course, they'll deny it. But it's the same.

You might call him an academic snob (but I won't). I'd have to find the study, but it has already been proven that all other things being equal, an Ivy league education does not make a difference. The study looked at groups of identical achiever's, i.e. people who had the same SAT scores, grades, backgrounds, etc. and concluded that those who went to non ivy schools ended up actually having a slightly higher average income than those who went to an ivy school (they used income as a determinant of "success", which can be a debate unto itself). However, the report did find that an ivy education did benefit those from lower socio economic backgrounds.

So ultimately, it really is the individual more than the school that makes the difference

[tande1n5]

Originally Posted by novaman

I like that.....Nowadays there really is no correlation between class and having class. We need look no further than the front pages of US magazine and those upper class icons of today: Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie, and Britney Spears.

I tend to think that that's the main reason that they aren't upper class, and most members of the upper class would tend to agree with me. They are nouvaux riche, which may as well be a class unto itself. I know it usually comes off as a derogatoy term - that just because your money didn't come from family you lack discretion to spend it wisely - and although it's not nice/correct to say that as a rule for all members of the nouvaux riche, cases like the aforementioned show that it is absolutely true in some cases, and reason enough for me to hold that those people will never be able to attain status in the true upper class.

[novaman]

Originally Posted by tande1n5

I tend to think that that's the main reason that they aren't upper class, and most members of the upper class would tend to agree with me. They are nouvaux riche, which may as well be a class unto itself. I know it usually comes off as a derogatoy term - that just because your money didn't come from family you lack discretion to spend it wisely - and although it's not nice/correct to say that as a rule for all members of the nouvaux riche, cases like the aforementioned show that it is absolutely true in some cases, and reason enough for me to hold that those people will never be able to attain status in the true upper class.

How many generations would you have to go back in the wealth tree to not be neuveaux riche...Paris Hilton's grandpa made the money.

[elcapitan]

I've always thought that the class system is more complicated than just dispensable income. I think it is a combination of profession, education level, dispensable income, and other various choices that one makes throughout life (such as not littering, being aware of current events, giving back to the community, etc.)