Class Matters New York Times Series

I have been following an interesting series in the New York Times, titled Class Matters.  In Shadowy Lines that Still Divide, the Times states, "There was a time when Americans thought they understood class. The upper crust vacationed in Europe and worshiped an Episcopal God. The middle class drove Ford Fairlanes, settled the San Fernando Valley and enlisted as company men. The working class belonged to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., voted Democratic and did not take cruises to the Caribbean.  Today, the country has gone a long way toward an appearance of classlessness. Americans of all sorts are awash in luxuries that would have dazzled their grandparents. Social diversity has erased many of the old markers. It has become harder to read people's status in the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, the votes they cast, the god they worship, the color of their skin. The contours of class have blurred; some say they have disappeared."

When I think of class lines, I think of my dad who set the lines for us, perhaps just for me. I clearly remember him praising the AF of L CIO, we certainly did not take trips to the Caribbean.  However,  I don't remember my dad being fond of the Democratic party. For one so clearly working class, he always posed the question "What have the Democrats done for you? Daddy was quick to point out that the person who finally signed the Civil Rights Bill in 1964 was Republican. But I do wonder if President Kennedy had not put pressure on for such a Bill and soon after was  assassinated, would the Bill have been signed with such expediency?  I have doubts.  I do know that my dad influenced my way of thinking. To this day, I vote for the man not the party.  

The NYT shows profiles of four people in Class Matters:

Caucasian female, age 67  widowed retiree with a high school education, strung beads for a jewelry maker, worked for sewage and coal companies, and owned a restaurant. Sees herself as lower class .

African American male age 37,  manages his family's septic tank company, earning up to $75,000 a year. "I hold the mortgage to my home," he said. "I have the vehicle I want." A high school graduate, he never married but has two sons. "I'm ableto raise my children in a manner so they won't be picked on or laughed at in school." Sees himself as working class.

Caucasian male age 39,   accounting manager for an electrical utility. He and his wife, a preschool teacher, both college graduates, earn $85,000 a year. They have two daughters in school and a son, a sophomore at M.I.T. "You always have the opportunity to try and move forward financially," he said. "For me, the American dream is to earn a reasonable living and to be able to spend quality time with my family and my friends in a community that cares. Sees himself as middle class.

Caucasian female, age 47   marketing executive, and her husband, a business owner, earn more than $150,000 a year. To her, the rich get "preferential treatment, where they don't have to pay for things." But she sees many opportunities to make money now, "in technology and health care and finance." Still, she said, America has changed since her parents' generation. "Sees herself as upper class.

I am not comfortable with the term "lower class", for me, it conjures up a type of person not a financial slot. I see the first woman poor or lower economic class rather than lower class. Yes, I know--it's all about semantics. I am not sure where I fit in those demographics, so I have made to my own category. I see myself as 'working middle class'. or maybe I am middle working class.

"The contours of class have blurred; some say they have disappeared." No way has this happened. I suspect it never will. Money and class often go hand-in-hand , though one does not guarantee the other.  There will always be subtle reminders of where you were before you 'arrived',  your ethnicity or the color of your skin. Money may not lessen the hurt but it does give you a certain power. One of my favorite stories is from an old issue of American Visions Magazine. A wellto-do black man wanted to dock his boat for a short time at Gardner's Basin in Atlantic City in a space owned by the restaurant he wanted to dine in.  He was not allowed to do so, he felt because of his color. He went back home, got some of his wealthy friends together, made an offer the owner could not refuse--he bought the restaurant along with the docking space.