New York Times Ruminates On Class, Tries Not To "Sound Too Rich"
The New York Times, for the next three weeks, is publishing a series of articles called Class Matters, the first of which appeared in today's issue. Though they point out that "the series does not purport to be all-inclusive or the last word on class", the first article drills deep into contemporary American class structures and the state of upward mobility (short version: not as common as we think). One key argument in this first article is that class is no longer (and maybe never was) as simple as Lower, Middle, and Upper--we look, by necessity, to several factors that delineate our place in society.
The best part, as always, is the How Class Works learning aid crafted by Ben Werschkul and his geek minions. (Werschkul, where's your blog? I've saved you a spot in my RSS reader!) Pick your occupation, education, income, and wealth to see where you stand in the class firmament. I always liked percentiles when they came back high, but I was shocked to find out just where my mix of smarts and dollars put me. Fortunately, this elegant tool has helped me to find the secret to true class happiness: become a surgeon, get a professional degree, make more than $100K a year, and be worth over half a million. Ah, sweet 96th percentile; I shall never fail you again.
Posted by tangentialist at May 15, 2005 04:18 AM | more tangentialism
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