Class

Although many people in the United States have vague ideas about labels such as rich, poor, and middle-class, delineating exactly what constitutes these constructs and the relationships among them can be a source of confusion and, often, disagreement. To further complicate the lack of clarity of class labels, unlike other socially constructed identity categories such as race, gender, or sexual orientation, class is not generally thought to be an important social marker in the United States. This remains true despite the recent Occupy Movement, which attempted to bring attention to economic exploitation of the 99% by the megawealthy 1%. Despite appearances to the contrary, perhaps the Occupy Movement and a downwardly turning economy have penetrated the myth of the middle in the United States, at least just a bit. For much of U.S. history, when asked what class he or she is in, the typical American will respond, “Oh, in the middle.” However, this identification does not seem to be related to annual income or occupation. The idea of being a middle American is seductive and fits well with other American ideals such as meritocracy and the American Dream. Interestingly, the Pew Research Center found that Americans’ identification with the middle is waning. Americans who once identified as solidly middle-class are now reporting that they are in the lower middle or even the lower class. Amid the realities of a slow economic recovery for most and reports that the United States has the most extreme wealth concentration of the top 20 of its peer nations, illusions of middleness may be difficult to maintain. This is especially true when the current economy is juxtaposed with the American Dream, which asks Americans to believe both that class does not matter in terms of life chances and that citizens can and should move up the class hierarchy to improve their life chances.

In addition, simply defining social class is a challenging proposition. Historically, in the United States, and following Karl Marx, among others, class has been defined primarily in terms of economics, specifically as it pertains to people’s relationship to the means of production, whether one is an owner or a worker. Although the economic aspect of class is deeply meaningful and relates to one’s ability to address many life issues, from the fulfillment of basic needs like food, water, and shelter to purchasing healthcare or attending college, some suggest that social class is a cultural idea as well as an economic one. This entry discusses the complex idea of class, its relationship to culture and identity, and the material implications of that relationship, as well as its relationship to intercultural competence.