What is your class status?

[TinCow]

I am intrigued by the apparently common acceptance that class is inextricably linked to income (not even to capital). It must be the influence of the meritocratic aspiration of the United States, as is the idea that class is flexible - in that a single person, let alone a single generation, may easily transfer between classes.

Fascinating. I might submit for discussion that a gentleman is not measured by his wallet.

Ah, Europe. I submit for discussion the the measurement of class based on anything other than wealth is an artificial notion generated over several hundred years by the aristocratic class as they began losing power due to political and social evolution. The modern idea of social class (in the typical European sense) is a largely feudal construct. In early feudal society, class was defined by wealth and power and little else. There were few connotations to education or culture, as the behavior of middle ages nobility was often little better than the behavior of middle ages peasantry, and education was non-existent outside of the Church. However, the rise of the merchant class presented the old feudal nobility with a dilemma: if class were judged purely based on wealth and influence, they would be forced to share power with the upstart merchants. This was unacceptable, so the idea of class based on something more than wealth was slowly adopted. As the middle class continued to grow and the power of the nobility continued to wane (mainly due changing economic power of both groups), this shift in class identification became more pronounced, often with the result that those who were born into nobility were considered upper class even if they were completely destitute, while some of the wealthiest and best educated men in the world were simply one step above peasants.

Over time, this has, in Europe, turned the notion of class into something that is partially innate, and partially social. With peerage essentially dead everywhere, the innate portion is in its last gasps, leaving only the social aspect of the old system intact. This dictates that 'proper' behavior is what defines a gentleman, and little else. While this current emphasis on manners can be admirable when it is divorced from the traditional notion of class superiority, it goes against the entire basis for the social construct we call class. Class was developed as a means of identifying those with power and those without. In the modern world (and frankly throughout most of history), power is in the hands of those with money. Thus, the proper means of evaluating social class in the modern world is by wealth.

This does not mean that this means of evaluation is itself proper or useful in any manner. Indeed, I believe that every person should be judged on their own abilities and accomplishments, not those of their parents. However, if social class must be determined, the proper and historically accurate method of measurement is pure wealth. All else is the residuals left over by a slow shift from aristocratic to democratic governance.

"He who boasts of his ancestry is praising the deeds of another."
-Seneca