Social Class in America

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Analyzing Social Class in “People Like Us” Social class in America has been and will always be present whether people like to acknowledge it or not. It may be difficult to identify by racial or ethnic differences but it does exist. Americans tend to identify social class by one’s income, family background, education, attitudes, aspirations and even appearance as markers of class. Although people are all supposedly created equal theses elements are recognized by the wealthiest of the wealthy and poorest of the poor. Anyone can become anything they want to become but all of these social factors play a part in that. In the PBS documentary special “People Like Us,” it discusses how social class works in America. The segment called “How to Marry Rich” focuses on a middle class woman trying to become upwardly mobile, she wants to learn how to attract a man of a higher class suit. Ginie Sayles, motivational speaker and author of “How to Marry Rich,” was poor all of her life but ended up marrying a millionaire. She learned to dress, act and interact with the rich and powerful to get what she wanted. My first impression of her was that she was a well-dressed and very well spoken woman. When she said that she had come from being poor to marrying rich I immediately thought of the bourgeoisie and the “new money” class. Sayles used her expertise with dealing with wealthy people as role models in her achieved status. She used it to her advantage and also created a career for herself as a “self help consultant,” helping people that were just like her to gain a higher status in society. Vessa Rinehart, her enthusiastic student, is a museum staffer and comes from middle class America. She expresses in the segment how she is tired of attracting and dealing with men that don’t have jobs, cars, or even gas money for dates. She is eager to gain a higher social class so she goes to

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