Upper class
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+ | [[Image:Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple.jpg|thumb|200px|This page '''{{PAGENAME}}''' is part of the [[politics]] series.<br><small>Illustration:''[[Liberty Leading the People]]'' (1831, detail) by [[Eugène Delacroix]].</small>]] | ||
{{Template}} | {{Template}} | ||
- | '''Upper class''' is a concept in [[sociology]] that refers to the group of people at the top of a [[social hierarchy]]. Members of an upper class often have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area. | + | The '''upper class''' in modern societies is the [[social class]] composed of the [[economic inequality|wealthiest]] members of society, who also wield the greatest [[political power]]. The upper class is generally contained within the wealthiest 1-2% of the population, and is distinguished by immense wealth (in the form of estates) which is passed on from generation to generation. |
- | The phrase "upper class" has had a complex range of meanings and usages. 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. Despite this chance of upward mobility, the upper class is, according to many sociologists, unattainable to those not born into upper-class families. | + | The term is often used in conjunction with the terms "[[middle class]]" and "[[working class]]" as part of a tripartite model of [[social stratification]]. |
== Contrast == | == Contrast == | ||
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*[[Old Money]] | *[[Old Money]] | ||
*[[High culture]] | *[[High culture]] | ||
+ | *[[High society (group)]] | ||
*[[Social environment]] | *[[Social environment]] | ||
*[[Social status]] | *[[Social status]] |
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The upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of the wealthiest members of society, who also wield the greatest political power. The upper class is generally contained within the wealthiest 1-2% of the population, and is distinguished by immense wealth (in the form of estates) which is passed on from generation to generation.
The term is often used in conjunction with the terms "middle class" and "working class" as part of a tripartite model of social stratification.
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Contrast
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See also
- Aristocracy (class)
- Debutante
- International Debutante Ball
- Nobility
- Gentry
- Landed gentry
- Patrician (post-Roman Europe)
- Grand Burgher (German Großbürger)
- Bildungsbürgertum
- Hanseaten (class)
- Celebutante
- Fat cat (term)
- Nouveau riche
- Old Money
- High culture
- High society (group)
- Social environment
- Social status
- Symbolic capital
- Honour
- Mentifact
- Habitus (sociology)
- La Distinction
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