Social Class

My results from the quiz showed that I belonged to the Bourgeois Vous, or the upper-middle class. I this reflects pretty accurately on my life. I do indeed eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and our house contains many books. I do view people in a positive light (unless they demonstrate otherwise) and I am not a fan of heavy metal music. I found it interesting how the length my parent’s breast fed me helped determine my class. I also thought it was different how choosing to eat food without paying or spy for a competitor gave a person a higher score on the social ladder.

                The article “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide” by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt shares many similarities and difference to my life and how social class defines and affects it. The article states that “mobility…has flattened out or possible even declined”. I find this very true. It is harder now with worldwide completion to become more successful than your parents. Everyone is vying for that top spot or that loophole. Living in McFarland, a town that is pretty well off, I see how parents “scramble to scoop up a house in the best school district, channel a child into the best preschool program, and land the best medical specialist…”; My parents were the same way, which probably why I still go to McFarland and why they push me so hard to be the best. This is why I don’t agree with the article’s statement: “Parents with money, education and connections cultivate in their children the habits that mediocrity awards”. This seems completely flawed in my personal case. My parents push me to be the best I can be so that hopefully my life could be easier than theirs. There is that constant pressure to succeed, not to settle for anything, especially mediocrity.

I agree with the main message in the article “Money Always Talks” by Daphne Merkin. I think that “the rich are different”. The article also states, “They make us think we would do better if we had their dough….Or, at least, we want the option to prove our lofty conjectures”. As the upper-middle class, I constantly see people talking about how they could change the world if they had the chance, or they would spend the money more wisely. What gets me is how money can inspire and corrupt people. Sure it can change your social class in an instant, but what if it changes you as a person? This thought may reflect on my social class, always trying to see the best in people, but money can flip people. Is it really worth it?

This leads into the film People like Us was very eye opening. It showed me that the rich really don’t have it all. They can be arrogant and selfish and naive, just like the rest of us. It is not their fault, but the fault of the class system. The boys from the mobile home wanted nothing but an education and a future, and I am sitting here complaining about how slow this laptop is. This divide of wants and wills shows that the class system is still here in the United States; those in need should be given more aid. I hope that in the future the class system will be something based on merit and honor and kindness, not money because in the end, money is just paper.