How do people define social class?

When I went searching for videos about social class, I have to admit, I had a little trouble. A lot of the videos were either too depressing, or they were filled with stuffy economists talking about money. Then I thought, who would have a good video about social class? Oprah!

I can't embed the video I want into this post, so here's the link (don't try to watch it in school, it won't work):Understanding Social Class

In this video, woman from around the Chicago are were asked to define what they thought social class is. I think it was very interesting to see the different perspectives of these women, and the way they view different social classes.

The first woman is an African American woman in a business suit. She talks about her definition of class and says it is "when someone looks at another individual for how they dress, what car they drive". She then goes on to say that nobody even knows she's unemployed, because of the way she dresses. I have to be honest, I never would have guessed she was unemployed, and I did base that off of the fact that she was wearing a business suit. I think this shows how much we assume things about other people, based on things like clothes. I agree with the woman that it's bad that we assume things based on looks.

One thing that stuck out to me was that almost every woman said that social class seems to based upon how people dress and the outward appearance of someone. I think it's very interesting that the idea that you can think you know a person's class/what they're like based on how they look on the outside. 

My favorite part of this video is the statement by the last woman. She mentions how there are a lot of upper class people who have a lot of options on how to behave, but she doesn't think they're very classy. This reminds me of my last post, and how upper class people are more likely to cheat and act unethically. I think it's interesting that she says how she thinks class is inside of you and it is how you act, and that it can't be taken away by lack of money. I agree with this, to an extent. I've seen a lot of lower/middle class people who act much more polite, ethically, and yes, classier than some of the upper class people I've seen.

I really enjoyed this video because it showed different perspectives on people's views of class. I found it very interesting that most of the woman agreed that class seems to be based upon what we see a person wearing and driving, and what job they have.