The United States of America is a Classless and Egalitarian Society.

     America is branded the land of plenty with people from all over the world flocking its streets in search of a better life. The kind gesture of offering asylum to victims of warring countries and students looking for better education has led to the branding of America as the land of opportunity.  Despite the good reputation, America has also been accused of many other wrong doings among them being racism, discrimination and inequality. In the recent past, a lot has been said about this great nation but the greatest question stands to be, can America be claimed to be a classless and egalitarian society? I totally disagree with the fact that America is a classless and egalitarian society from my research. To support my argument, walk with me as I discuss the issues that have influenced my stand through an end to end discussion based on deep analysis and evidence from scholarly articles.

     To begin with, claiming that the American people are classless is next to impossible based on the division of their society into social classes as I will discuss. This social classes are seen from the mode of dressing, age, and level of affluence. Taking an example from the article “PEOPLE LIKE US”, people judge a man from his clothing and classify him to belong to a given class of people. From this scenario the man is wearing a simple tank shirt and a pair of shorts which does not necessarily mean that he does not own a pair of trousers or a decent shirt. But the people around him cannot help classifying him to belonging to a low class in the American Society. This is not only wrong, but also reflects on how polluted the structure of the American society is basing its roots on inequality.  Never judge a book by its cover as you will never know to what treasure it might amount to. It’s so absurd when people judge such a man considering that more than 50% of people going for a vacation around the world wear shorts to their summer holidays. This is evidence that a great division exists between the elite and the poor in the society in terms of opportunities and standards. (Alvarez, et al. xx)

     Secondly, it’s considered normal to judge some people as being better than others from how they are dressed again bringing the issue of class and inequality. The weird assumption creates a division assumes that some people disserve to be treated better than others however, from the virtual perspective of equality all human beings are equal and deserve to be treated equally free of discrimination. From the way some one is dressed, people judge and place them in a given social standards which at times do not even match their real standards. Its normal to assume that bosses, CEO’s and Managers are well dressed people who wear decent clothing including well ironed shirts and trousers however that’s not always the case. Taking for example a couple walking in the American streets with the man wearing a refreshing white shirt and nice trousers and the woman wearing an expensive necklace. The people around them assume that the man is perhaps a CEO and with no doubt that the two belong to the high class social level.  People dress differently for different occasions. It’s normal to dress nicely when appearing for a job interview or an important meeting and later going back to your norm of life of simple and casual dressing. So the dressing does not define profession social standards or occupation. From the discussion it’s evident that the social classes and inequality among the American people really do exist. (Alvarez, et al. xx)

     Thirdly, the American people are known to be modest and elegance with a lot of countries taking after them. This is the main reason as to why they deny the existence of inequality among themselves.  The existence of class is not outspoken in America to avoid tarnishing their image but their efforts have been rendered futile by how the Americans judge, the comparison of the sizes of their houses and the flashy cars they drive depending on their income. It’s so wrong that the American people fail to admit that classes do exist yet their economy is divided, with the largest contribution being made by a group that address itself as the middle class. This is a group made of people who are neither very poor nor very rich, receiving an average income per month. Division into classes has not been the least of the economists concerns over the years, but with the rising levels of financial stress and inequality, the economists have decided to strike and address these issues making them surface. ("American Middle Class, Income Inequality, and the Strength of Our Economy")

     Finally, a scholarly article known as the American Dream has disapproved the classless notion of America claiming that the American community is Meritocratic, which classes being determined through the level of achievement. The existence of a person in a given class in America is based on their level of education or the career they pursue hence resulting to a variation or unclear way to determine the division of the social classes. ("Social Class in the U.S")

Conclusion

Based on the evidence above its clear that that the American society cannot claim to be classless and egalitarian despite the denial. From the discussion above based on different articles, it’s also clear that   there are different competing trends that lead to division of the American society mostly based on the mode of dressing, education and wealth though a defined boundary between the groups does not exist.