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What’s the difference between upper and upper-middle class?
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Name : Jade, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Spanish, Religion : Catholic, Age : 16, City : Sydney, State : NA, Country : Australia, Occupation : Student, Social class : Upper class,I took a class in sociology this year. This is coming strait from my notes. These are facts about America, but most likly are for the most part true worldwide. The upper upper class is made up of two groups, the Capitalist Class(Old Money) and Noveau Riche(Lower Upper Class or New Money. The upper upper class makes up about 1% of the population and are composed of individuals with distinguished ancestory, are of the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) party, are often decendents of corporation founders, work as businessmen, law firm members, or on wall street, have ivy league educations, attend boarding schools, are conservative and tradition oriented, and are set for life finacially from birth as a result inheirited income, stocks and bonds, and property. The Nouveau Riche make up 2% of the population, have had phenomenal personal economic success in their lives, often flaunt symbols of wealth (such as cars, jealry, ect.), and often accumuluate the wealth of the upper upper class, but do not have the backround and ancestry. The Upper Middle class makes up 15% of the population, and is composed of career and professional people, such as doctors, lawyers, high level managers ect. Ecomomically, the upper class makes more than $500,000 a year and the upper middle class makes about $100,000 to $500,000. Im not sure how that would convert to Austrailian currency, but contact me becausae I would be interested
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Name : Chaz, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Baptist, Age : 17, City : Baltimore, State : MD, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,In my experience, the difference is as follows- the truly upper class person never has to wonder whether they can afford something. The upper-middle class does, even if its something like a second or third luxury house or that McMansion in Florida.
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Name : Jon-N, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Jewish, Age : 27, City : Toronto, State : NA, Country : Canada, Occupation : Grad student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,The income brackets change depending on which sociologist you’re speaking to, but it’s basically what it all boils down to. And birds of a feather flock together, as the saying goes. While it is not unusual for lower, mid, and upper-mid classes to live in generally the same suburban neighborhood, the upper-class (‘new rich’) generally live in more secluded areas, send off their kids to private school, and generally try to emulate the members of ‘old money,’ or the upper-upper class. To put it another way – if you go to a public school, the rich kids are probably upper-middle class. Bill Gates is upper-class. The Rockefellers are upper-upper class.
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Name : Juno, Gender : M, Race : Asian, Religion : Orthodox Christian, Age : 21, City : Richmond, State : VA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,While sociologists have struggled to define class lines, the terms upper class and upper-middle class have working definitions. Generally, society is divided into upper class, middle class and lower class. In ‘modernized,’ ‘industrialized’ countries, the middle class is the broadest and most populous class. The middle class is then subdivided into upper-middle class and lower-middle class. So, the term upper class is referring to a class in itself, while the term upper-middle class is referring to the upper subsection of the middle class.
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Name : David25909, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Atheist, Age : 20, City : Middletown, State : CT, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College,In the United States (probably because of the massive inequality of wealth, although also because there was no formal aristocracy), most people like to minimize class distinctions in talk. Thus, people making ten or a hundred times the income of someone else will both refer to themselves as ‘middle class.’
‘Upper-middle’ class usually picks out people making a lot more (20% to 50%) than they need (in the strict sense of having a large house, car, money for education and a safety buffer for hard times.) In the States, an ‘upper-middle’ class family is probably one that does not receive a break on University tuitions for their children, even when the cost of college hovers between $10,000 and $40,000 a year.
An ‘Upper’ class family may be in the same position, but if anything the distinction has to do with ancestry. A family that has been wealthy for generations and generations may be described (and even self-described) as upper class. Perhaps a good rule of thumb is that an upper class family has as much money as an upper-middle class family, but also has, say, great-grandparents who went to University.
In the United States, ‘upper class’ has a derogatory connotation because of the general cultural ideal of equality; indeed, the people who have enough money to be in this class probably also have enough education and leisure to feel bad about it — hence the popularity of ‘upper-middle’ class as a description.
‘Upper-middle’ class also carries a sense of having earned it. In other words, ‘I have a lot of money, but I came out of the middle class just like you; I’m mostly like you, but I just have more money.’ ‘Upper’ class might rather suggest ‘because of my family’s history of having money, my upbringing – and even the upbringing of my parents and grandparents – is so alien to yours that I really am a separate part of society.’
Because the United States and Australia have similar democratic origins (immigrant, no aristocracy, general committment to legal equality), much of the reasoning in this answer probably holds true. However, the much smaller spread of incomes in Australia might mean that people are less worried about insisting on their ‘middle’ class status when they are clearly not.
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Name : John29258, Gender : M, City : New York City, State : NY, Country : United States,In basic terms, you take the incomes of all people/households and break them into lower/middle/upper classes by percentiles. The lowest 25% are a class, the upper 25% a class, and the remaining 50% the ‘middle’. This number is variable depending on the cost of living where you are. Because the upper class usually has the largest range of incomes, this breakdown is usually weighted more like 35%/55%/10%. Upper middle class is simply having an income at the high end of the middle class range. In the United States, middle class is roughly $30K to $120K of income per year.
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Name : Mark, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 37, City : Durham, State : NC, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I think your numbers are a bit off. Last time I checked, a salary of about $100K would put you in the top 5% of wage earners, well above the middle class.
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Name : Kevin26340, Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, Age : 35, City : Houston, State : TX, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Strictly and historically speaking, class is not so much about money as about social position–who are your friends and relative, how are you regarded, and how long your family has been what they are. That is probably still more true in England than in the US or Australia. There are people of socially upper class who don’t have much money–people who get invited to the best parties but can’t afford a lavish lifestyle. Economically, as the term has come to be used, at least in the United States, I guess you could say a person who has enough money to live in a style higher than the big majority of the population without worrying about how to pay for it. If I had to put a number on it, I’d say it means a steady income of over, say, $250,000 US per year.
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Name : Dave26032, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, City : New Orleans, State : LA, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Upper class people wear Prada. Upper middle class people wear Abercrombie. Upper class people have 10 Vuitton bags while upper middle class people only have 1 real and 9 fake and they show it off.
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Name : Tali24829, Race : Asian, City : NYC, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Factory Worker, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Lower class,
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