Stuck in the Middle with You
I was in a fancy restaurant today and got excellent service from a young woman of about 23-25 years of age. She was exceptionally nice and as she served us I couldn’t help but think about the class system in the old days of England before America began: the times when it was impossible to change your class. If you were born low, you stayed low: the same with medium and high. I didn’t see her class as any different than mine. Should I have? In some ways it seems we have come full circle to those days. Dumb luck on a TV reality show or a free lottery ticket can make all the difference in class nowadays. After thinking about it a bit, I realized very quickly there are still 3 classes that keep people “stuck.” Let me explain:
First, there are “American royalty” folks. These are the Gwen Stefanis who grew up in American middle class neighborhoods, became exorbitantly successful, and now can’t walk through a mall without being mobbed. Shows like Extra and ET propogate their regalia to the minions and events like the Academy Awards transform them into virtual deities.
Next there are the middle class peeps. This is my target audience on my blog. Why? Because they’re most like me. The middle class is an array of folks such as: your child’s teacher, the policeman that wrote you a ticket, the manager of the restaurant you just ate at, the gamut runs long. As a general rule, this class longs to “make it big.” Many “middle classers” are hoping to write the great American novel, invent something, have the next raved-about blog, hit it big with singing skills as the lovely Gwen has, or any manner of instant catapults out of the middle zone. The shelves at Barnes and Noble tell the story well with titles like “How to write your hit novel in 30 days,” or “How to make it in the music business,” or “Think Big, Live Rich.” The middle class pays its hard earned money for dreams like these and they line up to buy them like Dr. Seuss’ Sneetches paying Sylvester McMonkey McBean. What is this saying about us? Are we as a class feeling stuck in the middle?
Finally, there are the lower class crew. These people sell flowers at red lights going home on Valentine’s Day (at damn good prices I might add). They pick our fruit. They clean our houses, collect our garbage, and you know all what else. Many in the lower class do not speak English and some of those who do have a slough of stories about how they “fell” from one or both of the two social castes above. Some of these stories are truly tragic. The lower class increases daily as a sub-culture of poverty. This fold knows the days each local church gives out canned food and free clothes. They know how to get government assistance. They know how to get Medi-Cal. They know how to go through a trash can. The group seems to be growing. Feasibly, they could one day outnumber both groups above. Could this be the recipe for an uprising? Maybe. Something to ponder.
To sum it up, the middle wants to be the upper and the lower wants to be the middle. One can only wager a guess what the upper would want. If I ever find out, I’ll share it here! What is a post-modern social class really and is it possible for just anybody to change classes? I’d say it simply depends on how dedicated you are to getting “un” stuck from the middle that holds so many of us Americans in its grip.
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Tags: Psychology
This is a very interesting post to me because I have a hard time in my mind defining classes by the amount of wealth one has without considering the amount of class they have. Does that make any sense?
Paris Hilton, money-wise, is upper class and she was born into her money, but she has no class at all, in my opinion. Gwen Stefani was born middle class and earned her “upper class” money status, but she has actual class. She is not out falling off barstools, driving drunk and making porno movies.
I suppose it’s just the way you look at things. I don’t look at Paris and think she is upper class, I just think she has money. If I look at Gwen Stefani, I do see upper class. There is a difference to me.
Jessica
<p>Excellent point. Maybe that is the distinction between our post modern class system and that of classical times. I wonder if it would be possible to define the three classes along the lines you have hinted at. In a way, I see the point as only academic though because Paris IS royalty due to her wealth. There is a struggle among the middle class not seen in the upper, and likewise in the lower. The question is: How would we treat each other if we weren’t competing to get higher all the time in our social structure? If we decided other things were important than “making it big.” I don’t know about you, but so many of my music friends, blogging friends, even some education friends are always striving to be the next best thing in their field. What is, as you say, class wasn’t determined by that? As you know Gwen is my friend, I grew up with her since our parents are friends. She has always been a family oriented person with a lot of class. What people see is the result of good parenting and of course, a kid that decided to make good choices with a rock career. Does anybody really even know Paris the way I know Gwen? Apart from fame I mean? Paris is low class I agree, but isn’t that a bit sad she was born into that reality? Or is it all her choices that made her the way she is? Oh, and we haven’t even touched on Lohan :)</p>
No, I did not know that Gwen Stefani was a personal friend of yours! That is so interesting! She is one of my favorite performers. No Doubt about it :) She totally handles her fame with class and is actually very talented, unlike a lot of other people who reach that kind of celebrity status, in my opinion. Lohan is a prime example.
I think it’s terribly sad that someone with every opportunity in the world could turn out to be current Paris Hilton. She is wealthy, beautiful and has more doors opened for her than most people dream of and she doesn’t do anything worthwhile at all. Compare her to Ivanka Trump, who was born into money royalty, but who is the exact opposite of Paris. While she has advantages most people do not, she took advantage of them with her education and she does work very hard for her father’s company and carries herself and her family name with class.
You’re right, it’s upbringing. I do think, though, that is not just about money. If singers are striving to be the next “Gwen Stefani”, while they probably want the fame and the fortune that goes with it, they are also striving to make a mark in something, whether is music, writing, acting, what have you. I believe that is the “upper class” that people striving for, not the whole silver spoon thing that is Paris Hilton.
When y’all start talking about celebrities, you lose me, because I don’t think I could care any less about their fame. What interested me, is what got you started thinking about “class.” That waitress. We were shopping yesterday, and I was watching how people treat those who “serve” them. The waitress, the storekeeper, the maid in the hotel—most people ignore them, or at least don’t talk to them much. I have always said,”Yes Ma’am” to the maid, just as I would to the Queen of England. The waiter gets a “yes, Sir” just like the President would. I try to be courteous to everyone alike. I’ve found that by doing so, I often get unexpected rewards (discounts where I didn’t expect them, extra attention, better service). To me, people are just “people.” Class is one of those things that just doesn’t register with me, unless I notice that a person has no class!
Exactly!