The myth about class in America is ridiculous. I feel that most people, usually, if not part of the lower or working class, then they seem to thinkg that we as an American Society, don't have any real class distinctions.
In Gregory Manstios essay, "Class in America", he points out that, people of the middle class and upper class feel that it's not "classy" to speak or label someone into a class category in the US or to even use the term.
It's kind of like the glass ceiling and the wage gap, because the people at the bottom, are always having to look up at their goals, but the people already up there (i.e. the upper class),don't have any reason to look down, so why would they? Therefore how would they know what it's like below them, or what's going on?
Take Paris Hilton, I know it's kind of out there and extreme to use her as an example, but peole like her, who were born into a privileged world probably don't have to take classes like these to even fathom that they are privileged. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know much about white privilege, or any other concept of privilege and oppression we talked about in class either.
The four myths about class that Gregory Mantsios discusses in "Class in America"; "we are a classless society, we're all middle class, we're all getting richer, and we all have equal chances to succeed", are cornerstones of the "American Dream". If we can think of class as part of the invisible system of privilege and oppression, then more people will come to the realization that middle class cannot be used to label everyone in the US. Most people don't even know that we live in a society where privilege and oppression affects EVERYONE, as a system. Allan Johnson explains in his book, Privilege, Power, and Difference,that, whenever somebody moves up or succeeds in society, they are moving up at the expense of somebody else moving down and being oppressed.
Think about what you picture in your mind of what and who the "American Middle Class" is? What are the standards you see? Do they own a house? How many cars do they have? What color are they? What types of jobs do these people have? etc. What does the media portray as middle class? Do you see yourself fitting into that standard? In reality, being a part of the middle class of America, means fitting into very narrow boundaries of what is and what isn't "middle class". The "American Dream", tells us that as long as we work hard we can achieve anything, but then think of the system of privilege and oppression, and how it affects you and what class you consider yourself a part of.