Class in the United States, circa 2004

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Class in the United States, circa 2004. The present-day United States has no legally-recognized social classes. The absence of officially-recognized classes may reflect the desire of this society to become a market-oriented meritocracy, as the United States has traditional values of hard work, entrepreneurship, and individualism.

In practice, however, there are de facto social classes in the United States, normally based upon wealth, influence, occupation, and social and economic access. Some sociologists divide the society into two or three social classes; others, as many as nine. Most often, American society is depicted as containing five separate social classes, which are:

• An entrenched upper class. Extreme wealth or good fortune can bring an individual into this class, although most enjoy membership as a legacy. Members usually sustain themselves, and secure continued advantage, through social connections and networking rather than hard work. While demonstrated by some members of the American elite, hard work is clearly of secondary importance, and completely elective. On the job market, members often exploit their connections to secure coveted and prestigious occupational positions with salaries in excess of $500,000 per year. However, it is possible for a person to be upper-class without being exceptionally wealthy.

• A largely professional upper-middle class. Individuals within this class rarely have the social advantages or envied corporate positions lavished upon the upper-class, but normally have access to the best education and occupational training in American society. Individuals within this class typically make between $40,000 and $500,000 per year, but there is much variation. For example, a home-maker married to a doctor, a student at a high-ranking college or professional school, or an assistant professor making $35,000 per year would be considered upper-middle class, despite their comparatively low salaries. Additionally, since class has as much to do with occupational prestige as with salary, some might argue a truck-driver making $60,000 only to be "middle-middle" class.

• A "middle-middle" class that, some believe, is decreasing rapidly in number. Events such as downsizing may have eliminated many of the skilled unionized jobs that provide membership within this class. As a result, many individuals within this group have drifted either into more skilled work, in the professional sectors (upper-middle class) or have fallen downward into the service sectors (lower-middle class).

• A lower-middle class, or "working poor". Largely working in unskilled service jobs, individuals within this social class often face varying hours, unpleasant occupational environments, and impersonal supervisors. Short of education, they have almost no mobility. By world standards, these individuals are materially privileged. Nonetheless, they are positionally underprivileged, marginalized members of American society.

• A lower class of often impoverished and desperate individuals. Crime and hunger are daily threats for them, and illiteracy, homelessness (most U.S. job applications require that the applicant provide a home address) and, in some cases, previous criminal records ensure that their chances of securing work remain low. These individuals are the most marginalized within American society.

Class delineations are somewhat artificial, and whether or not the divisions within the middle class (upper-middle to lower-middle) exist is a matter of debate. "Upper-middle" class individuals lead dramatically different economic lives from "lower-middle" class individuals, but whether or not these groups are separate as classes is in question.

The reason why distinctions of "upper-middle" and "lower-middle" classes are disputed: "Class" involves sociological barriers that are almost impossible to cross, except for those who attain the favor of a higher-class individual. Indeed, in America, it is rare that a person born into the lower class escapes it, and it is highly unlikely that a person outside of the upper class will enter it. By contrast, it is much easier for a person born into the lower-middle class to end up – through merit, hard work, or luck – in the upper-middle class.

The exact definitions and delineations of class are up for debate, but most class metrics for the United States involve a person's relationship to 1) the labor market, and 2) the profits of established businesses.

The lower class is under-invested. If correlations between native intelligence and class exist at all, they have been shown to be weak at best. For most individuals within the lower class, their talents and capacities are overlooked or ignored, and therefore rarely develop to their full potential. Poor family and educational environments exacerbate this, placing these individuals at emotional and academic disadvantages from which some never recover. These individuals frequently work in part-time or secondary labor, and face extreme difficulty in attaining the sort of stable, well-paying job that is necessary for a functioning economic life.

The middle classes, excluding self-employed individuals or partners in small businesses, are under-valued. The compensation they receive for their work may be anywhere between meager and generous. Almost invariantly, however, their compensation fails to match the worth of their labor to the enterprise for which they work. This is because, in a corporate structure, wage earner's compensation and occupational conditions are not calibrated according to their contributions to the enterprise, but rather according to the market-value of their human capital, or skills and knowledge. In general, the market-value of an individual's labor is usually significantly less than the productive worth of said labor to the respective enterprise, since the market-value is determined by the lower threshold amount for which sufficiently competent individuals are willing to work.

Most individuals within the upper classes are over-valued, at least in strict mathematical terms when one compares their productive worth to their compensation. Often by more than an order of magnitude their salaries exceed what would be the market-value of their work were their privileged occupational positions opened to middle-class individuals, many of whom, by all accounts, would be competent to manage them. Through social connections and "sweetheart" deals these individuals often secure positions of considerable compensation and influence that are rarely open to the general public, and benefit from salaries that some consider excessive.