Reflection on What is Social Class

I think that many people’s definition of social class relates to a person’s economic status.   Even though there has been variations of the categories of social class, three main labels stick out.  The rich, the poor, and the middle class.   Within each of the three there is a quite a bit of variation in the status of the people labeled in those groups. According to Zweig’s article on “What’s Class Got to Do with it?” social class is really a question of economic and political power (pg. 130).  He also states that this power would not exist if there were not specific classes.  He then goes into how all the classes are interrelated and dependent of each other.  He thinks that we need to view social class in terms of power not wealth and in doing this we will have a better understanding of the relationship and links between the classes.  (This does seem clear, however it just changes the naming of the label)

I found this article a little confusing.  Zweig’s states at the beginning of his article that social class is invisible, but I am not sure if I agree with that.  I think just as society will view whether a person is a male or female, light skinned or dark skinned, they can view is a person is rich, poor, or middle class.   For example, you see pro athletes or famous people, the cars they drive, their homes.  You can see they have money, especially when you see on the news how much their new homes is worth or how much they get paid.  You also see people who are living on the streets, in cars, or in homeless shelters.    All the other people you just assume and label as middle class.  I know that there is much more to this than what I am writing, but my point is that I do think that we see social class.  This is not to say that you could be wrong about what social class you label someone in.  For example the homeless person living on the street is actually a millionaire, this kind of mistake is made all the time.  We label and view people on what we see, not what we know.  This is the same with race and gender.

The Economist points out that most people stay within the social class that they were born into.  I think this is because there is a broad range of variation and movement in each class.    The Economist points out that the last 30 years has been a profitable time for the rich.    This is due in part to globalization, which I think in turn is one of the reason why people in the middle and poor class have stayed the same.

I think there will always be a social class.  It is how students are label within these classes that society needs to change their views on.   As teacher we need to be conscious that students are not tracked based on their social status.  

Reading 12: Zweig, Michael – What’s Class Got to Do With It?

Reading 13: The Economist – More or Less Equal?