America Is a Class Society, and the Differences Are Immense

America is a Class Society, and the Differences are Immense

The ideal concept of American society is one in which all citizens are treated equal in every realm and situation. Class, race or gender does not divide the utopian America; everyone is afforded the same opportunities and chances for success. Unfortunately this idyllic country does not exist nor has it ever existed. In as much as the majority of the Country's population would attest to the myth that America is a classless society, the distinctions definitely exist and influence the entire life scope of most Americans. In terms of the way housing, health care, education, race, gender, career prospects and socio-economic status will mark someone as a member of a particular class.

As an immigrant from the Island of Jamaica I find it discomforting to respond to the questions asked here in America when I have to fill out government documentation or an employment application. Growing up in Jamaica, I was never once asked to identify my "race." It seems absurd to describe myself as Caucasian or African-American, Hispanic or Pacific Islander. All I know is that I am a Jamaican.

Looking back on my Jamaican experience however, it seems we are identified more by class system than by racial labels. The Jamaican class system is based on money, of course, and other criteria. These include European-based notions of etiquette and decorum, as well as education and the way people dress and speak. But there was something else, something that inherently defines the Jamaican concept of class.

From what I was taught by my parents it was "respectability." Respectable people lived by certain standards. Vulgarity, obscenity drunkenness, arrogance, rudeness, disorderly, and idleness were considered signs of a "lower-class upbringing. I don’t recall the Jamaican class system as being etched in stone. I recall the sons and daughters of domestic servants sometimes becoming wealthy doctors and lawyers, powerful politicians...