Many Americans like to see our nation as a classless society. Climbing the golden ladder to success in business and politics is seen as a realistic and achievable goal for anyone who has the ingenuity and is willing to put in the effort to make it to the top. Similarly, America is envisaged as the nation without great class unrest and divisions.

On the surface this may ring true, but the reality of the situation can be viewed much differently. Let us examine the great leveller of American socioeconomics: the middle class. According to a recent “Newsweek” poll, the majority of Americans today would identify themselves as middle class people. While this certainly is no surprise for people, it is much

more perplexing to attempt to define the American middle class. Such distinctions as “upper middle class” and “professional” or “semi-professional” have emerged in people’s socioeconomic self identities recently to complicate the issue further.

While many people may have many explanations for why such distinctions exist, there appears to be a clear motive behind the push for further stratification of the muddled lot of people below the status of social elite. An article by Emilie Le Ferve and Carine Nicolas identifies the basic necessity of defining one’s self as middle class is to somehow separate themselves from the “lower” working class.

While some people of this nation have proudly and triumphantly accepted and taken pride in their working class status, there has been a long-standing trend of attempting to escape what is viewed as a sub-standard social standing.

With the increasing distinctions between administrative assistants and professionals in all fields, it looks as if being “middle class” is losing its desire. The question arises as to why this happens.

For the most part, middle class people are struggling with the fact that they are outside of the realm of true political and economic power. The middle class actually are just a better-off section of the working class of America. Like it or not, if you consider yourself even “upper middle class” you are seating yourself in only the upper tier of what is a massive working class of people who have nowhere near the wealth and power as the elite of America have.

If you have a bigger house than what you may consider the average working man or woman to have, or if you drive a nicer car, but you depend on selling your labor in order to live, then congratulations — you’re working class.

Taking this into consideration, the middle class keeps reinventing itself to not only feel that it is gaining greater power and autonomy, but also that it is somehow leaving the “working class” behind. Therefore, there seems to exist a psychological need in American society to constantly maintain the image of the ever-expanding greatness of the American economy for the “middle class.”

The distinction and divisions of class identity in the United States creates a divided society that cannot truly become united. This trend also helps mask the ever-growing division between the rich and the “poor.” Now when one discusses the ever-widening gap between the haves and the have-nots, most consider that to factor in only the really poor and the really rich, but in fact it includes those people that identify themselves as middle class as well.

The immensely rich and powerful continue to use the lower classes of people as a stepping stone to greater and greater wealth. Division of class consciousness works out rather well for them because it keeps the true working class from uniting because it is too busy trying to distinguish itself from the working poor.

Even if there were a more positive working class consciousness in America, what would it look like and what would it want? Perhaps things may look better socially and economically for everyone if something would arise in the future, but the details of that must be saved for a later column.