As someone with a completely worthless BS degree in sociology, I am going to have to agree with v-dog's description of class. You can be loaded to the gills and still not fit in with other individuals who make up the higher socio-economic brackets. The upper classes of our (Western) society are often multi-generational, interconnected in a variety of different ways including but not limited to birth, marriage, business and school ties and can be said to comprise their own "upper-class culture" that will not easily accept the "newly monied". I could become a multi-millionaire overnight and it would still take years and years for me to be accepted by the upper classes (assuming that even happened) of society. There is a "culture of the monied" just a much as there is a "culture of poverty". Both are very real, almost always multi-generational and constitute separate sub-cultures within society that posses different customs, ideas and most importantly, very different ways of viewing reality. Add race/ethnicity into this mixture and things become very complicated, indeed...

Ahhh, my Asipe has a chance to shine...

The nouveaux-riche are not well looked upon. And there are members of the upper classes who are dirt poor, but are still accepted by their peers.

One of my F/B friends used to brunch with Ted Kennedy as a child. She doesn't care about my financial position - we were classmates and so I am part of that circle. I could be worth $1billion and still not be part of that web - that hive - that structure of connections.

I have "rock stars" on my F/B - and again, it's not about money - and while I wouldn't say rock stars are members of the upper classes, I would certainly argue that many commoners would believe so because of their misunderstandings of the relationships between fame/wealth/power.

We like to claim in America that there is mobility between classes. But this is true only in terms of income.

To make your way into the world of the ultra-rich, old money, power brokering world, you need school ties or, as Dan said, marriage.

I could cite examples of this from my personal life, but I won't, because one of the things I learned from engaging with the higher classes is that discretion is a great value. One need not advertise unless one is seeking something - and they can get what they need with a phonecall - or what you need with a phonecall if you are accepted.

The upper classes laugh at gated communities of multi-million dollar homes.

Being upper class is, as Dan said, a state of mind.

Money does not define class. I have been associated with the very wealthy, and have family members in that group and I can tell you from experience, some of the classiest people I know don't have a dime and some of the wealthiest I know show absolutely no class. I will take an honest poor man with a good soul over a lying rich man with a dark soul any day.

I think the true measure of a person is how the deal with adversity. It is easy to do the right thing when it is easy to do.

"Class" is a word with many meanings.

Phillip Slater.

Not from a sociological perspective.

Only colloquially.

In simplified terms then, v-dog's version of upper class is 'snob.'

Personally, I agree with IANC and Mom4Max.

I do appreciate you correcting my mistakes. I obviously held very outdated definitions of asians. i do not intend to belittle ANY racial group. I dont like to generalize any racial group in a negative manner. individual people that I have met is an entirely different story.


no you are right, I have never met or known any "upper class" society people so I dont have any comparisons but my corrupt and incorrect understanding and views on the world.

Again, I suggest that you consult a sociology textbook.

I think you will find much more snobbery in the middle class and the nouveaux-riche than in the upper classes. Upper class people are generally quite gracious as this is part of that culture.

I think you're quite confused.

I don't know any of the upper class, but I can assure you of one thing; if you try to belittle someone of that class then YOU are the one who comes out looking stupid or uncouth. They fend off insult with a skill that simply won't allow it to hit, much less stick.

In a similar vein, a born leader has an ability to lead without effort (or seeming effort) but others (not the leader class) will struggle to get co-operation. Same thing with born teachers; they just somehow make everyone want to get along and learn. The upper class makes you want to be polite.