Class: A Guide Through the American Status System

I can never look at the world with the same eyes after reading this book.

Very interesting, funny at times, good cartoons.The book helps you read the codes of a society akin to ours (European) and yet so different.

Amusing and informative but by no mean a match for Jilly Cooper's "Class" in terms of social observation or humour.Fussell lack the acuity and self awareness to observe that his own self proclaimed class the "X" class, "made up of talented people who don't care what class they look like, they just do what they will. " is simply anothor part of the class system - more accutely observed by Jilly Cooper as the lower middle class elenent of the 'Spiralist' class (who of course would describe themselves exactly as Fussell does with his "X" class.

Read the book and see where you are in America's class system. Thoughtful as well as humorous. Are you an X?

30 years old and still hilarious!

If you've ever thought that America is a classless society (a phrase I remember John Major touting as his hoped-for image of Britain), reading this small book may make you change your mind. Classlessness is no more true in American than it is (or was, or quite probably, ever will be) in Britain.Fussell breaks the class system in America into categories beyond the common demarcations:Top out-of-sightUpperUpper Middle---MiddleHigh proletarianMid-proletarianLow proletarian---DestituteBottom out-of-sightFussel argues that the true aspiration of much of American society is not to be upper class, but rather upper middle class, for this is where the balance of reward and responsibility is most evenly distributed toward leading 'the good life'.American class systems are defined differently often by the class in which one finds oneself. 'At the bottom, people tend to believe that class is defined by the amount of money you have. In the middle, people grant that money has something to do with it, but think education and the kind of work you do almost equally important. Nearer the top, people perceive that taste, values, ideas, style and behaviour are indispensable criteria of class, regardless of money or occupation or education.'This book will tell you how to evaluate your class ranking by many means, including where you went to school, what stores you shop in, where you holiday (or vacation), what furnishings are in your home (and how you refer to them: is it a couch or a sofa?), what you eat, etc. There is a handy quiz at the end for self-evaluation (Parquet floor at home, add 8 points; vinyl floor, subtract 6, and so on).There are also interesting parallels drawn: the Top out-of-sight and Bottom out-of-sight classes are similar in many ways; for instance, you cannot find the drive to the house of either (Top because they're well hidden, Bottom because they don't have any), neither class carries cash on one's person, neither tend to possess new-and-shiny anything, etc.Fussell, being a newspaper man, drew parts of this book from columns he had written. He also got mail, and he includes a brief collection of correspondence and answers in the back; one example is:Dear Sir:My son attends Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, but he insists on putting a Harvard sticker in the rear window of his car. Is this wrong? Signed: WorriedDear Worried:It is very wrong, but at least it indicates that he's learning something down there. He may go far.For those of you who hope to escape the class system, Fussell provides the exit hatch, in the X way out. 'X' people are better conceived as belonging to a category than a class because you are not born an X person, as you are born and reared a prole or a middle. You become an X person, or, to put it more bluntly, you earn X-personhood by a strenuous effort of discovery in which curiosity and originality are indispensable.'Just as Matthew Arnold observed that some in British classes don't seem to belong to them (but certainly belong to no other), the X category enables a societal recognition to those who do not fit a mold but yet must be categorised (for any class system must categorise).Have fun, prepare to be offended slightly, and see what having an obelisk in your living room really means.

This is an observant gentle ridiculing of status anxiety – it explains why flashy cars and luxury good are bought by the middle classes rather than the upper classes, why V-neck sweaters are a sign of lower-middle class insecurity, why the New Yorker is for parvenus. I imagine some people will be offended, but it is mainly amusing and light. In the years since I have read it, it has changed the way I read people’s behaviour in terms of their houses, clothes, holidays etc.Easily the worst part is the last section of the book when Fussell defines an outsider class, to which he belongs, and which somehow makes him and fellow members immune from class insecurity. It is really strange because the rest of the book is really clever and observant and then this section suggests he is completely self-unaware.

Who said Americans couldn't write satire ?Hilarious, cruel, and only slightly smug

This book is not boring or dry, instead almost comedic at times. A fun intellectually stimulating read examining the nature of society as a whole.While reading it quickly becomes clear the book was written in the 80s which results in many of the examples and comparisons seeming a bit odd or irrelevant; however, in general the ideas and the theme of the text remains true and an interesting discussion of class in America. I would appreciate a second edition bringing the book up to date with modern examples and discussions. The addition of a chapter discussing the changes in class over the decades would be an interesting addition to help connect the two editions (if one were made).

This book had me laughing somewhat unexpectedly! I couldn't help but read out parts of this book to my husband. If you have ever seen Downton Abbey and enjoy the way the Dowager says things, you will like this book. It's witty, and points out the obvious but not so obvious in a really hilarious way. It appears to come from a more upper crust perspective, however this could just be because that is mine, it's hard to say. I will say this though, it's clear that in the 30 some odd years since this book was written, our world has been taken over by proles. Everywhere you look, prole habits abound. I refuse to go down with the ship!! I was obsessed with this book until completion. A must read. For me, anyways!

A la hora de valorar este libro hay que olvidase de cualquier pretensión científica. Sencillamente, el autor señala aspectos anecdóticos de la vida americana y pretender sacar de ello conclusiones sociológicas. Es un dislate. Tiene gracia algunas ocurrencias, pero son de una enorme simpleza, especialmente por su obsesión en dividir a solo tres las clases sociales en USA: la alta, la media y la pobre. Para pasar una tarde vale. Nada mas.

good quality, very efficient

Dieses Buch sollten jede und jeder gelesen haben. Es gibt eine deutsche Übersetzung, die aber wohl leider vergriffen ist. Fussell schildert höchst vergnüglich, was die unterschiedlichen gesellschaftlichen Schichten und Milieus in den USA lesen, essen, wie sie sich anziehen, welchen Freizeitvergnügen sie sich widmen, wie sie ihre Wohnungen einrichten, etc. Der Leser ist begeistert, die kleinen Eitel- und Torheiten vorgeführt zu bekommen - bis er seine eigenen Eitel- und Torheiten vorgeführt bekommt; und der Leser/die Leserin werden geschult, genau hinzugucken, die Chiffren des Auftritts anderer zu entziffern und ein stilles Vergnügen zu haben sowohl an dem, was gelingt, als auch an dem, was nicht so gelungen ist. Insgesamt ein großartiges Buch, und das zweite große Buch von Fussell nach seiner Studie The Great War and Modern Memory, die ein viel traurigeres Thema mit derselben Meisterschaft behandelt.