A Real Class Act

Class or No Class
What is “Social class”? Does it really exist in our society? Does everyone have the same opinions about Social class? Julie Charlip talks about these aspects in her essay “A Real Class Act”. Julie Charlip thinks class has to do with family, work ethic, neighborhoods, who you live with, and education. Charlip explains her personal side to these subjects to share her upbringing and thoughts of her status in class. Americans don’t want to believe that there is such a thing as class, lets face it, class is everywhere (excerpt from “People Like Us”). Now, what their opinion on what class depends on, or how other people fit into classes, may be different. One may pull aside average Joe’s, business men and women, or even a homeless person off the street, pull a picture out, and ask “What class does this person look they belong to?” (As stated in “People Like Us”). Average Joe might say, “he looks middle class like me”, the business woman might say, “he looks lower middle class” and the homeless person off the street may say, “he looks better off than me” and laugh it off. I think depending on what class certain people pertain themselves to makes them look at other people according to their social standing. To everyone in society, there is a different perspective of class.
Charlip uses her childhood memories of working with her dad, to living in the suburbs, education and upbringing. In her excerpt of “Life in the Burbs” she says “I couldn’t understand how they could have more money than my family yet not know the social graces. I began to see that there was a complex interconnection between money and lifestyle, between social skills and acceptance.” This to me, means that even though you have money and are in the higher status, you may not have the manners or understanding of respect as ones with less money and an understanding of working for the money.
What does class depend on? This is a very arguable question to answer. One might say money....