An upper class ?

[Earthling]

I'd define the upper class economically as mostly those who have (had and still have) a large amount of inherited wealth, regardless of their current income, education, profession, or cultural associations. The United States for the most part does happen to lack a significantly sized upper class in this sense, though numerically the result is thus a quite large middle and unfortunately a somewhat distinct poor/lower class persisting across generations. Generally the middle class American Dream is kinda seen as to become part of this upper class for future generations; the line does blur a little for a first-generation person who becomes rich enough, as it is odd to think that Bill Gates wouldn't be upper class but his children would; however, he could be said to have a middle class background. Regardless, the upper class also maintains a very strong overrepresentation in politics and other public sphere endeavors.

Also,

sounds rasist

another /thread from kulade

 

[Elta]

IIRC Bill Gates was from a Rich family before he became rich.

 

[ricketyclik]

I find that hard to believe. Are you saying that there aren't families that own large tracts of inherited land that don't have to be up at 5.30 in the morning to milk cows because they have people to do that or that there aren't descendants of property developers that live off the rents earned from their inheritance?

I know that it is said countries like NZ, Australia, Ireland and Sweden have relatively classless societies but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

I did a quick google for land ownership statistics in NZ but couldn't find anything.

You are absolutely correct. Of course there are "ruling class" peeps, as I prefer to refer to them. IE, the unelected, nameless people who in reality call the shots in our so-called democracy.

 

[Ecofarm]

the unelected, nameless people who in reality call the shots in our so-called democracy

Joe Plumber?

 

[Hsinchu]

Upper class is specifically those who are obscenely well-off and not likely to go down in class. This specifically includes people that never have to work in their lives again or work for an obscenely high wage with almost total job security. The latter is actually harder to find since total job security is rare, particularly for high-range positions in this economy.

I think the OP is trying to draw a distinction between old money and new money.

If you marry into the upper class, you are upper class unless y'all move down to the suburbs and throw away the checkbooks. However, breeding, education, and "class" are all symptoms of habit either taught or donated to latter generations from previous generations. Old money can be upper class even if they lose the farm because their connections mean they will never be without the lifestyle and in some cases, that totally secure obscenely paying job is always available somewhere. New money, on the other hand, is typically gained from hard work and diligence, and the reason it is known as new money is because fortunes can be won and lost.

Until connections are forged or investments made for the long haul (at least a couple of generations) then acting truly upper class without the menial and vulgar concerns of that dirty word "money" is not likely. But anyone with the neverending pocketbook is a member of the club (sometimes literally).