Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power.
Because the upper classes of a society may no longer rule the society in which they are living, they are often referred to as the Old money classes, and they are often culturally distinct from the nouveau riche middle classes that tend to dominate public life in modern social democracies. According to the latter view held by the traditional upper classes, no amount of individual wealth or fame would make a person from an undistinguished background into a member of the upper class as one must be born into a family of that class and raised in a particular manner to understand and share upper class values, traditions, and cultural norms. The term is often used in conjunction with terms like upper-middle class, middle class, and working class as part of a model of social stratification.
Historical meaning
[[File:Retrato de familia Fagoaga Arozqueta - Anónimo ca.1730.jpg|thumb|
Portrait of the family Fagoaga Arozqueta, about 1730. Painter unknown. The family was part of the upper class in Mexico City, New Spain.
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Historically in some cultures, members of an upper class often did not have to work for a living, as they were supported by earned or inherited investments (often
real estate), although members of the upper class may have had less actual money than merchants.
Upper-class status commonly derived from the social position of one's family and not from one's own achievements or wealth. Much of the population that composed the upper class consisted of aristocrats, ruling families, titled people, and religious hierarchs. These people were usually born into their status and historically there was not much movement across class boundaries.
In many countries, the term "upper class" was intimately associated with hereditary land ownership.
Political power was often in the hands of the landowners in many pre-industrial societies despite there being no legal barriers to land ownership for other social classes. Upper-class landowners in Europe were often also members of the titled
nobility, though not necessarily: the prevalence of titles of nobility varied widely from country to country. Some upper classes were almost entirely untitled, for example, the
Szlachta of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Great Britain and Ireland
In
Great Britain and
Ireland, the "upper class" traditionally comprised the
landed gentry and the aristocracy of noble families with hereditary titles. The vast majority of post-medieval aristocratic families originated in the merchant class and were ennobled between the 14th and 19th centuries while intermarrying with the old nobility and gentry.
Since the Second World War, the term has come to encompass rich and powerful members of the managerial and professional classes as well.
In the years since Irish independence in 1922 the upper class has all but vanished in the Republic of Ireland. Aristocratic titles within the Peerage of Ireland granted by the British monarch have no recognition in the Irish Constitution. Contemporary Ireland is generally perceived to have a two-tier social class system composed of working class and middle class (with the exception of a small number of wealthy billionaires).
United States
The American upper class is a
social group within the
United States consisting of people who have the highest social rank primarily due to economic
wealth.
The American upper class is estimated to constitute less than 1% of the population. By self-identification, according to this 2001–2012 Gallup Poll data, 98% of Americans identify with the five other class terms used, 48–50% identifying as "middle class".
The main distinguishing feature of the upper class is its ability to derive enormous incomes from wealth through techniques such as money management and investing, rather than engaging in wage-labor salaried employment, although most upper-class individuals today will still hold some sort of employment, which differs from historical norms. (2025). 020541365X, Pearson. 020541365X
Since the 1970s, income inequality in the United States has been increasing, with the top 1% (largely because of the top 0.1%) experiencing significantly larger gains in income than the rest of society.
According to the book Who Rules America? by William Domhoff, the distribution of wealth in America is the primary highlight of the influence of the upper class. The top 1% of Americans own around 34% of the wealth in the U.S. while the bottom 80% own only approximately 16% of the wealth. This large disparity displays the unequal distribution of wealth in America in absolute terms.
In 1998, Bob Herbert of The New York Times referred to modern American plutocrats as "The Donor Class"
Korea
The
Yangban made up less than 1% of the Korean population. In
Joseon, the Yangban were politicians.
In Joseon, the highest class was the .
After the 18th century, Descendants of noble families were titles.[新城道彦『朝鮮王公族－帝国日本の準皇族』（中央公論新社 中公新書）2015年 ISBN 4-12-102309-9]
In Korea, most descendants of the Yangban class are politician or chaebol.
Representative examples include Yi Si-yeong(Vice President), Syngman Rhee(Prisident), Kim Chwajin(High Ranking Statesman), Kim Seong-su(Vice President), Lee Byung-chul(Chaebol).
See also
Further reading
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Cousin, Bruno and Sébastien Chauvin (2021). "Is there a global super-bourgeoisie?" Sociology Compass, vol. 15, issue 6, pp. 1–15. online
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McKibbin, Ross.(2000) Classes and Cultures: England 1918-1951 (2000) pp 1–43.
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Baraka, Magda. (1998). The Egyptian upper class between revolutions, 1919-1952. ISBS.
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Scott, John. (1982). The upper classes: Property and privilege in Britain Macmillan Pub Ltd.
United States
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Baltzell, E. Digby. Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a New Upper Class (1958).
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Brooks, David. Bobos in paradise: The new upper class and how they got there (2010)
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Burt, Nathaniel. The Perennial Philadelphians: The Anatomy of an American Aristocracy (1999).
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Davis, Donald F. "The Price of Conspicious [sic] Production: The Detroit Elite and the Automobile Industry, 1900-1933." Journal of Social History 16.1 (1982): 21–46. online
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Farnum, Richard. "Prestige in the Ivy League: Democratization and discrimination at Penn and Columbia, 1890-1970." in Paul W. Kingston and Lionel S. Lewis, eds. The high-status track: Studies of elite schools and stratification (1990).
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Ghent, Jocelyn Maynard, and Frederic Cople Jaher. "The Chicago Business Elite: 1830–1930. A Collective Biography." Business History Review 50.3 (1976): 288–328. online
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Hood. Clifton. In Pursuit of Privilege: A History of New York City's Upper Class and the Making of a Metropolis (2016). Covers 1760–1970.
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Jaher, Frederic Cople, ed. The Rich, the Well Born, and the Powerful: Elites and Upper Classes in History (1973), essays by scholars
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Jaher, Frederick Cople. The Urban Establishment: Upper Strata in Boston, New York, Chicago, Charleston, and Los Angeles (1982).
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Jensen, Richard. "Family, Career, and Reform: Women Leaders of the Progressive Era." in Michael Gordon, ed., The American Family in Social-Historical Perspective,(1973): 267–80.
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McConachie, Bruce A. "New York operagoing, 1825-50: creating an elite social ritual." American Music (1988): 181–192. online
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Story, Ronald. (1980) The forging of an aristocracy: Harvard & the Boston upper class, 1800-1870
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Synnott, Marcia. The half-opened door: Discrimination and admissions at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, 1900-1970 (2010).
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Williams, Peter W. Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression (2016), especially in New York City
External links
