8.4 Social Classes in the United States
In this section, we will explore how class operates in the United States. We will begin by exploring those high up in the class hierarchy and then discuss the middle class. We will end by examining poverty in the United States, how it is patterned, and explanations for its persistence.
Upper Class
The upper class is at the top of the social hierarchy. In the United States, people with extreme wealth make up one percent of the population, and they own roughly one-third of the country’s wealth (figure 8.5) (Beeghley 2008).
Money provides not only access to material goods, but also access to power. As corporate leaders, members of the upper class make decisions that affect the job status of millions of people. As media owners of the major network television stations, radio broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, publishing houses, and sports franchises, they influence the collective identity of the nation. As board members of the most influential colleges and universities, they influence cultural attitudes and values. As philanthropists, they establish foundations to support social causes they believe in. As campaign contributors and legislation drivers, they fund political campaigns to sway policymakers, sometimes to protect their economic interests and at other times to support or promote a cause.
Sociologists have explored the composition and dynamics of the American elites. American sociologist C. Wright Mills coined them the “power elite” (2000) The power elite is the class in command of the major hierarchies and organizations of modern society. Mills points to the government, corporations, and the military as the three main institutions in which the elite circulate. As an example, someone who held a high position in the government might go on to serve on the board of a corporation. Someone who was a corporate executive (such as Michael Bloomberg, Mitt Romney, or Donald Trump) might then be elected to a high position in the government.
This interconnectedness of the power elite also takes place outside of formal institutions due to overlapping social networks and connected groups. Mills suggests that the power elite use a particular ideology to justify their location. They promote the belief that they have a finer moral character and that there is something about them that makes them “naturally” elite. In doing so, they downplay the importance of shared experiences and training in reproducing elite statuses. Furthermore, the power elite in the United States tend to deny that they are powerful.
American sociologist G. William Domhoff also studied elites in the United States. He found that they developed separate social institutions to help create social cohesion and mold wealthy people into the upper class (Domhoff 2021). This social cohesion develops from both common membership in specific institutions and friendships based on social interaction within the institutions.
Domhoff focuses on education and social