![]() ![]() Drawing from scholarly texts from de Toqueville, Whitman, Orwell, Terkel and scores of others, as well as his own fastidious and uncompromising notation of Americans' habits of dress, manners, attitudes and pastimes, Fussell issues a systematic analysis of American classes that is informative and, if you're not offended by blatant snobbery, enjoyable.Īlthough he gives credit to older two-, three- or five-class systems, Fussel proposes nine American classes, which he divides into three subgroups: Top out-of-sight, upper and upper middle in the first, middle, high prole, mid-prole and low prole in the second and destitute and bottom out-of-sight in the third. ![]() Reissued in paperback by Touchstone in 1992Ĭalled "a fine prickly pear of a book" by Wilfrid Sheed in The Atlantic, Paul Fussell's Class: A Guide Through the American Status System is an irreverent, uppity and generous survey of American class distinctions. Paul Fussel, Class: A Guide through the American Status System Video of guest speakers and Master Classes (requires RealPlayer).KEEP UP with journalists' beats in Blogfolio, updated throughout the day. READ the Best of Portfolio, featuring a selection of the best published work from Portfolio students. ![]()
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