Some Final Thoughts

I feel that my exploration of the social class system in the United States has been fascinating. I began this project by studying how people of different social classes navigate our complex society in order to achieve their goals. For me, social class seems to dictate how one might experience the American Dream. I suspect that many other people feel the same way. When you think about it, the notion of the American Dream is something very unusual. Nowhere else in the world do the citizens of a country so closely align each individual’s idea of personal destiny with the promise of a national standard of living. Therefore, the manifestation of distinct social classes in our purportedly meritocratic society is antithetical to the notion that our country is “the land of opportunity.” However, these classes do indeed exist, and they have substantial obstacles near the boundaries whether they are visible or not. For example, the “glass ceiling.”

I drew on my first-hand experience and knowledge gained in the liberal arts program to inform my examination of social class in America. As I stated in previous posts, I grew up without access to higher social stratifications. I was intimately familiar with the lower stratifications and the values, norms, and mores that govern this end of the spectrum. Therefore, I spent considerable effort and time studying quote the “other half” including reading Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks. Brooks describes his humorous and lighthearted examination of America's new upper class as “comic sociology.” I must admit I found this read quite enjoyable. Nearly 20 years have passed since Brooks wrote BOBOs, yet it is surprisingly relevant. The term BOBO comes from the first two letters of both bourgeoisie and bohemian. The thesis of this book is really that these two opposite classes of people have become indistinguishable in our society. The bohemian counterculture of the 1960s has blurred with the capitalist fervor of the 1980s. In addition to coining the term bobo, he describes new kinds of social class problems among the well-to-do. He describes the phenomenon of SID which stands for status-income disequilibrium. This occurs when one’s high ranking status doesn't match the income that they earn. For example, a tenured intellectual who provides expert commentary on television May clean her own apartment while her social peers earn millions of dollars per year in the tech sector. They attend the same parties but drive to opposite sides of town at the end of the night. The tech CEO may live in a mansion in a wealthy area and the intellectual may rent an apartment in a less fashionable neighborhood.

Several documentaries have been exceptional resources in my quest to understand class. People Like Us is a documentary that surveys the wide spectrum of class in America. It is an interesting and authoritative resource as the contributors were experts on class. They include David Brooks, Paul Fussel, R. Cori Hay, Benilde Little, and Lang Phipps. However, the most important and enlightening documentary I used was called Class Dismissed. This documentary examines how television frames the working class. This film was based on a book by Dr. Pepi Leistyna, professor of applied linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. It focuses on how class is portrayed on television and how the shows that reflect our culture often overlook the important economic realities that underlie American life. I posted links to these videos as well as other multimedia resources I thought would benefit my audience. These books, articles, films, and other resources greatly increased my own personal knowledge and thereby my account of how class functions in America. I used this knowledge combined with what I have learned from the MALA program to gain a deeper understanding which ultimately allows me to ask better questions in the future.

The liberal arts discipline has informed my studies on social class in America in several different ways. First, I found this topic to be interesting while studying sociolinguistics. I originally thought of this topic in terms of how people use different dialects, vernacular, and other linguistic characteristics depending on their native region of the country. I was advised that this could make a good topic for my master’s thesis, but I ultimately decided this should be packaged in a creative outlet as a capstone project. Second, while studying human geography and inequality I found that there were many customs, folkways, and other invisible or unspoken rules of social order that cause great inequality. Third, the theme of my liberal arts foundations classes was community and a lot of the challenges we face in relating to each other as a community depend on social class interactions. Fourth, the issues of racial equality in this country are quite complicated and often confounded by adherence to social class norms. Lastly, I have often questioned where I fit in the great scheme of things. I feel that we are all searching for truth in some way. Studying philosophy, identity and truth as part of the liberal arts has informed my understanding of the world in new ways and helped me to know myself better than before. Right now, my search for truth has led me to examine the social class structure in America. This has helped me understand how people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds navigate our society’s challenges in order to mitigate or transcend them. Having a well-rounded understanding of different class values than my own will enable me to more adeptly do the same. Looking forward, there is still much research to be done in this area. I will be exploring other important topics as they relate to physiological characteristics and social class, such as the link between lower social class and obesity, why there is a correlation between ADHD and income disparity, and why mental illness presents differently among social classes.