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The idea that American society can be divided into social classes is disputed, and there are many competing class systems. [2] Many Americans believe in a social class system that has three different groups or classes: the American rich (upper class), the American middle class, and the American poor.
In a class society, at least implicitly, people are divided into distinct social strata, commonly referred to as social classes or castes. The nature of class society is a matter of sociological research. [26] [27] [28] Class societies exist all over the globe in both industrialized and developing nations. [29]
Fussell argues that social class in the United States is more complex in structure than simply three (upper, middle, and lower) classes.According to Bruce Weber, writing for the New York Times, Fussell divided American society into nine strata — from the idle rich, which he called "the top out-of-sight," to the institutionalized and imprisoned, which he labeled "the bottom out-of-sight."
Consequently, achieved status implies that social mobility in a society is possible, as opposed to caste systems characterized by immobility based solely on ascribed status. In pre-modern societies, status differentiation is widely varied. In some cases it can be quite rigid, such as with the Indian caste system.
Social class, for example, is a theme used in the 1948 production Mister Roberts, in a scene where the ship's captain displays resentment toward the title character, contrasting his own impoverished background to that of Roberts himself: I think you're a pretty smart boy. I may not talk very good, Mister, but I know how to take care of smart boys.
An open class system is the stratification that facilitates social mobility, with individual achievement and personal merit determining social rank.
Social class, according to Marx, is determined by one's relationship to the means of production. There exist at least two classes in any class-based society: the owners of the means of production and those who sell their labor to the owners of the means of production.
One example, pursued by Doug McAdam in his writing Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, was the Civil Rights Movement. Although the movement initially succeeded and made enormous social and political impact due to its rational and centered goals, the movement began to weaken throughout the 1970s due in part to ...