Social Class in the USA Stats taken from US Census Bureau through the article Where Do You Fall in the American Economic Class System?: Many people have misconceptions about their place in the income hierarchy. By David Francis http://money.usnews.com/money/personal- finance/articles/2012/09/13/where-do-you-fall-in- the-american-economic-class-system

http://www.azquotes.com/quote/1428988

Orwell’s Context: http://www. biography Grew up “Upper lower middle class” by his own terms Father was a civil servant in India Attended boarding school on partial scholarship “Orwell noticed that the school treated the richer students better than the poorer ones.” Wasn’t popular Won scholarships to continue at university Worked as a dishwasher as he struggled with writing Fought in the Spanish Civil War against a dictator-like general

Orwell "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear."

Middle: Outer Party (12-13%) Low: Proles (85%) Classes of 1984 High: Inner Party (%2-3) Middle: Outer Party (12-13%) Low: Proles (85%)

Classes in the USA 1 Percent 5 Percent Upper Middle Class Lower Middle Class Working Class Below Poverty Line (15% of population)

Numbers 1 Percenter: over $250,000 per year Upper Middle Class: “post-graduate degrees and work at high-level, white-collar positions.” Mostly above $100,000. Lower Middle Class: Lower-Level White Collar. College Education. No Higher Degrees. $32,000 to 60,000. Working Class: “blue-collar industries or are paid by the hour. They typically have lower levels of education.” Below Poverty Line (15% of population): Under ~23,000 per year for four family members

Has this changed? “Robert Gordon (a social sciences professor in Northwestern University's economic department) says popular culture also limits understanding of class, reinforcing the idea that all people are in the middle.” "Sixty years of universal television-watching has fostered the idea that everyone is in the middle class. Most TV sitcoms are about people like us, except sillier," he says. " There's very little media portrayal of a truly upper class that would make the vast middle feel that they were in some different sphere.“

Conclusion "It takes a long time for people to change their view of what class they're in," Gordon says. "That's especially true since the current definition of middle class is so broad that it excludes only the top 1 or 2 percent and the bottom 10 or 20 percent."