Class

In this episode Jerry and Stably discussed Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell. They go through Fussell’s nine-class system, from the “top out-of-sight” to the “bottom out-of-sight.” They also cover his argument that class depends on where your money comes from, your taste, how closely you’re supervised at work, and how anxious you are about status, more than on income. The hosts look at the middle class’s insecurity, the confidence the upper class and high proles share, and “prole drift.” They ask what has changed since the 1980s, including social media and political yard signs. They place themselves in the system as children of immigrants and debate Fussell’s bohemian “Category X.”