Upper class

The term upper class refers to a group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Often members of an upper class do not have to work for a living as they are supported by earned or inherited investments, although members of the upper class may also be poorer than the other classes. Upper class status derives from the social position of one's family and not from one's own achievements or pecuniary wealth. Members of an upper class often have power over other people as employers or landlords, or sometimes as members of a government. The term "upper class" has had a complex range of meanings and usages, and in the 21st century many people are uncomfortable with it as a term and as a concept. In many traditional societies, membership of the upper class was hard or even impossible to acquire by any means other than being born into it. While this is still correct, as regards what is truly the 'upper class', nowadays it seems a high income can be enough on its own for a person of middle class origins to be considered upper class in some countries dominated by bourgeoise culture, especially in the United States, although it should be pointed out that this designation tends to be accepted only by others in the same position, and not by the historic upper classes. Other factors such as ancestry, attitudes, tastes, education, occupation and accents are often relevant.

In many countries the term "upper class" was intimately associated with land ownership. Political power was often in the hands of the landowners in many pre-Industrial societies (one of the alleged causes of the French Revolution, despite there being no actual barriers to land ownership for other social classes). Power began to shift from upper class landed families to the monied bourgeoisie in the early modern age, leading to marital alliances amongst the two groups providing the foundation for the modern upper classes in the West. 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 (or noble classes) were almost entirely untitled, for example, the szlachta of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In the United Kingdom and Australia, the term "upper class" is now almost always used pejoratively by the middle and lower classes, as in the stereotypical term, "upper class twit", and British and Australian people are much more anxious to avoid being labeled "upper class" (or even "upper middle class") than their American or Canadian counterparts. For more on this phenomenon, see reverse snobbery, Australian mateship, and class consciousness.

In the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries, the term "upper class" was an elitist label that combined wealth and social power, but the connection with land ownership was far weaker in the north than in Europe or the American south where acreage was often very much in line with the British gentry and nobility . This usage of "upper class" lingered into the 20th century to some degree, associated with the elite and the power of the graduates of the Ivy League. The U.S. is now arguably more socially- stratified than most European societies, although some individuals still believe they move up one or more classes by making money (such as Oprah Winfrey). This view that one can move into the upper class simply by bourgeoise money-making reflects a middle-class outlook that overlooks the importance of the adoption of the aristocratic values that distinguishes the genuine upper classes from the merely rich. The absence in America of the embarrassment that many Europeans feel about their socially-stratified pasts, or sensibilities of the stigma of trying to be above one's station (a braggart) is indicative of the striving middle class nature of mainstream American culture. The presense of an historic upper class in American society since the 17th century has meant that new arrivals in the ranks of the rich or socially aspirant will eventually encounter the genuine upper class that will make the decision as to whether the aspirants will be accepted. This decision will be made largely on the basis of the arriviste's conformity to and acceptance of traditional aristocratic values.

Social class in Canada, as an observable phenomenon, though more subtle perhaps than in the U.S., is also not as entrenched as in Europe nor as taboo a topic as it is in Britain and Australia, though it remains a matter of controversy (see for example, the debate over the granting of a life peerage to former Canadian citizen, Conrad Black, Baron Black of Crossharbour, and the remarks of then Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien about creating an aristocracy in Canada, and his insistence on upholding the Nickle Resolution).

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The term upper class refers to a group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Often members of an upper class do not have to work for a living as they are supported by earned or inherited investments, although members of the upper class may also be poorer than the other classes. Upper class status derives from the social position of one's family and not from one's own achievements or pecuniary wealth. Members of an upper class often have power over other people as employers or landlords, or sometimes as members of a government

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See also