Encyclopedia
Upper class refers to a group of people at the top of a
social hierarchy. Members of an upper class often have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.
The term "upper class" has had a complex range of meanings and usages. In many traditional societies, membership of the upper class was hard or even impossible to acquire by any means other than being born into it. Since the decline of titled nobility, high income, net worth and education attainment as well as occupational prestige have become enough for a person of middle class origins to be considered upper class in some cultures, especially in the
United States though in many countries such as the UK and France, financial wealth has little to do with class. Despite this chance of upward mobility, the upper class is, according to many sociologists, unattainable to those not born into upper-class families.
However, this view is contested: in the New York Time's Bestseller The Millionaire Next Door, numerous statistics indicate that those with a high net worth most often come from poor and middle class backgrounds. Though this alternate view is itself contested, because the vast majority of "millionaires next door" are households with net worth under $10 million. When the term "millionaire" was coined, a million dollars had the buying power of $20 million 2006 dollars, making these "millionaires next door" not true millionaires in the traditional sense. The people who are truly upper class through the power of their net worth alone are the billionaires and hectomillionaires . Very few non-wealthy people can name a "billionaire next door." The vast majority of billionaires live behind many layers of security, and influence world events through many layers of middle management, and are thus quite insulated from the middle class and other classes of society. The vast majority of billionaires were also born to wealthy parents and had many advantages in life from day one. The HBO documentary
Born Rich gives a good idea of how children of the wealthy upper classes live and how they see the world.
Historical meaning
Historically, members of an upper class often did not have to work for a living as they were supported by earned or inherited investments, although members of the upper class may have had less actual money than merchants. Upper class status commonly derived from the social position of one's family and not from one's own achievements or wealth.
In many countries the term "upper class" was intimately associated with hereditary land ownership and titles. Political power was often in the hands of the landowners in many pre-Industrial societies , despite there being no legal barriers to land ownership for other social classes. Power began to shift from upper class landed families to the general population in the early modern age, leading to marital alliances amongst the two groups providing the foundation for the modern upper classes in the West. Upper class landowners in Europe were often also members of the titled
nobility, though not necessarily: the prevalence of titles of nobility varied widely from country to country. Some upper classes were almost entirely untitled, for example, the
szlachta of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
United States
In the
United States in the
18th and
19th centuries, the term "upper class" was an elitist label that combined wealth and social power, but the connection with land ownership was far weaker in the north than in Europe or the American south where land was often very much in line with the British gentry and nobility. This usage of "upper class" lingered into the 20th century to some degree, associated with the elite of "Old stock Americans" in the north eastern United States. Though today the term is commonly applied to those who have achieved great wealth including mostly what is referred to as the new money or the lower upper class.
Overall the American upper class is mostly comprised of individuals residing in households with net worths over one million dollars, who constitute roughly 3% of the population, and most commonly hold a graduate or professional degree from a prestigious
university. However, things look quite different if looked at solely from a perspective of net worth: most millionaires live by modest means, drive non-luxury cars, and do not own luxury homes. Many in this class are very successful professionals such as attorneys,
surgeons, and
scientists. Yet, many other members of the upper classes are venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, or hold top corporate offices, such as CEO, CFO or Senior Vice President in large companies. Having a significant income from capital gains is also a key characteristic of the upper class, whose great wealth allows some members to earn large capital gains incomes.
The idea of trying to "rise above one's station" is indicative of the
middle class nature of mainstream American culture. In
New England there exist enclaves of very old money, self-appointed upper class societies. These individuals are part of what is by many sociologists considered to be the upper upper class. This particular sub-class of the upper-class is only applicable in describing those who were born into upper class families. The lower-upper class on the other hand consists of those who were born into
middle class,
upper middle class, or working class families and who have achieved the status of being upper class.
It is held by some that people can "move up" in class by the accumulation of wealth, though typically most Americans perceive themselves as
middle class despite their income level. To those that perceive themselves as upper class, this view that one can move into the upper class simply by bourgeoisie money-making reflects a
middle-class outlook that overlooks the importance of the adoption of the aristocratic values that distinguishes the upper upper class from the lower upper class .
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, entry to the upper class is still considered difficult, if not impossible to attain unless one is born into it. Marriage into upper-class families rarely results in complete integration, since many factors raise a challenging barrier between the upper,
upper middle, and
middle classes.
Titles, while often considered central to the upper class, are not always strictly so. Both Captain Mark Phillips and Rear-Admiral Timothy Laurence, the respective first and second husbands of HRH The
Princess Anne lacked any rank of
peerage, yet could scarcely be considered to be anything other than upper class. The same is true of Francis Fulford, who memorably featured in
Channel 4's documentary
The F***ing Fulfords and who's family has owned estates in
Devon for over 800 years. That being said, those in possession of an hereditary peerage - for example an
Earldom or a
Baronetcy - will, almost invariably be members of the upper class.
In terms of education, it is often considered to be more important where one was educated, as opposed to the level of education attained. Traditionally, upper class children will be raised - at home - by a Nanny for the first few years of life, until old enough to attend a well-established prep school. Moving into secondary education, it is still commonplace for upper-class children to attend one of Britain's prestigious
public schools , although it is not unheard of for certain families to send their children to Grammar schools.
Insofar as continuing education goes, this can vary from family to family; it may, in part, be based on the educational history of the family. In the past, both the
British Army and
Clergy have been the institutions of choice, but the same can equally apply to the
Royal Navy, or work in the Diplomatic Corps. HRH
Prince Harry of Wales, for instance, has recently completed his training at the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in preparation for entry into the Army. Otherwise, Oxbridge and other 'traditional' universities are the most popular sources of higher education for the upper class.
Language, pronunciation and writing style have been, consistently, one of the most reliable indicators of class. The variations between the language employed by the upper classes and those not of the upper classes has, perhaps, been best documented by linguistic Professor Alan Ross's 1954 article on U and non-U English usage. The discussion was perhaps most famously furthered in Noblesse Oblige - and featured contributions from, among others,
Nancy Mitford. Interestingly, the debate was revisited in the mid-seventies, in a publication by Debrett's called 'U and Non-U revisited'. Ross contributed to this volume too, and it is remarkable to notice how little the language changed in the passing of a quarter of a century.
The choice of house, too, is an important feature of the upper classes. While it is true that there are fewer upper class families nowadays that are able to maintain both the well-staffed
town house and
country house than earlier in the century, there are still many families which have an hereditary 'seat' somewhere in the country that they have managed to retain:
Woburn Abbey, for example, has been in the family of the
Duke of Bedford for centuries. Many upper class country homes are now open to the public, or have been placed in the care of the
National Trust to aid with the funding of much-needed repairs.
Money and material possessions are often thought of as a less important factor as regards the United Kingdom's upper class than those upper classes of other countries. That is not to say the case is always true, however. Many upper class families will be in possession of works of art by old
masters, valuable sculpture or period furniture, having had said pieces handed down through several generations. Indeed, inheriting the vast majority of one's possessions is the traditional form in upper class families. On that point, there is a well-known derisory quotation from Conservative politician
Alan Clark, who referred to cabinet colleague
Michael Heseltine as the kind of person who 'bought his own furniture'.
Rest of the World
In
Australia , the term "upper class" is now sometimes used pejoratively by the middle and lower classes, as in the stereotypical term, "upper-class twit", and Australian and British people may be more anxious to avoid being labelled "upper class" than their American or Canadian counterparts. For more on this phenomenon, see reverse snobbery, Australian mateship, and class consciousness.
Social class in
Canada, as an observable phenomenon, though more subtle perhaps than in the U.S., is also not as entrenched as in Europe nor as taboo a topic as it is in Britain and Australia, though it remains a matter of controversy .
Social class in the
Dominican Republic has remained relatively unchanged over the years. A social class system still exists, and it is popularly understood that the different classes do not mix, especially the first and third classes. The "first" class are the rich, powerful, and celebrated. They also have most control over the country .
See also
References
