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Class: A Guide Through the American Status System Paperback – October 1, 1992

by Paul Fussell (Author)

240 customer reviews

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The bestselling, comprehensive, and carefully researched guide to the ins-and-outs of the American class system with a detailed look at the defining factors of each group, from customs to fashion to housing.

Based on careful research and told with grace and wit, Paul Fessell shows how everything people within American society do, say, and own reflects their social status. Detailing the lifestyles of each class, from the way they dress and where they live to their education and hobbies, Class is sure to entertain, enlighten, and occasionally enrage readers as they identify their own place in society and see how the other half lives.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Chicago Sun-Times Highly amusing....a witty, persnickety, and illuminating book....fussell hits the mark.

The Washington Post Move over, William Buckley. Stand back, Gore Vidal. And run for cover, Uncle Sam: Paul Fussell, the nation's newest world-class curmudgeon, is taking aim at The American Experiment.

Wilfrid Sheed The Atlantic A fine prickly pear of a book....Anyone who reads it will automatically move up a class.

Alison Lurie The New York Times Book Review A shrewd and entertaining commentary on American mores today. Frighteningly acute.

About the Author

Paul Fussell, critic, essayist, and cultural commentator, has recently won the H. L. Mencken Award of the Free Press Association. Among his books are The Great War and Modem Memory, which in 1976 won both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the National Book Award; Abroad: British Literary Traveling Between the Wars; Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War; and, most recently, BAD or, The Dumbing of America. His essays have been collected in The Boy Scout Handbook and Other Observations and Thank God for the Atom Bomb and Other Essays. He lives in Philadelphia, where he teaches English at the University of Pennsylvania.

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Product details

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Touchstone; Reissue edition (October 1, 1992)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0671792253
ISBN-13: 978-0671792251
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (240 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #30,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #12 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Demography
- #32 in Books > Medical Books > Dentistry
- #40 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Poverty

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Customer reviews

240

4.1 out of 5 stars

5 star		54%
4 star		24%
3 star		10%
2 star		8%
1 star		4%

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The Best Burns are the Truest Burns

ByLa Femme Fatalon February 16, 2014

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I LOVE this book!!! I feel like my eyes have been opened to so many things. This book was written 30 years ago. EVERY SINGLE THING IS STILL TRUE. I live in Los Angeles, I see EVERYTHING from bottom out of sight to the occasional top out of sight and a ton of class X. Every frickin' thing is still true (yes, yes, I know what Fussell would say about the word 'frickin'). All these individual and social nuances are still alive right down to the ugliest bone! What he says about universities, clothing, egos, professions, EVERYTHING.

However, I wasn't expecting this book to be so FUNNY. I thought it would be dry. Fussell has THE BEST EYE for looking into people compared to any socialist or theoretical genius I've read. I was rollin' laughing at some of cracks he took at certain classes, and then said "Hey, now wait a minute!" When he got to mine. Everyone gets burned though. Mainly the middles though, for our pretentiousness. Which is funny because if the majority of middles really knew how the out of sights operate they 1.) wouldn't waste so much money on flossy stuff. and 2.) Wouldn't be nearly as assumptiously rude to the "lower crust"/bottom out of sights. It's interesting that the tops and bottom of the class system have so much in common. OBVIOUSLY there are a lot of critical factors that differentiate each class, but not always what you think. Inherited money and immediate access to other uppers and out of sights and therefore elite culture and opportunities makes A HUGE difference. The middle class needs to stop trying to keep up and kicking themselves when we fail.

0Comment 27 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

this book is excellent. It borders on a kind of satire

ByMagicalon April 13, 2017

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I discovered this book via a lecture given by cultural critic Morris Berman, and bought it used for a song. It should be noted it was written in the early '90s, which will become apparent when the author references time-specific idiosyncrasies of American culture, and of course, the noted lack of modern day tech.

That said, this book is excellent. It borders on a kind of satire, delightfully entertaining with its keen observation of how different classes display their status in America -- or their insecurities about their class, as the case may be. Perhaps one of the most fun things you end up doing as a result of this book is thinking about all the people in your life who fit the various descriptions. I easily pegged various members of my family from anywhere from prole to upper, and perhaps most painfully, those members so set on social climbing that they attempt to ape the habits of the upper class, to little worthy effect. All of them are here in this book. A few scattered illustrations will also amuse, particularly the scene of a middle class man engaged in the most middle class of activities -- the maintenance of his lawn.

I would love for Fussell to update this. It is impossible not to turn one's critical eye on everything through the lense of the class system as Fussell presents it, and even Facebook no longer looks the same to me, but basically a middle class shouting platform of neuroses with which to assuage insecurity about one's social standing. A wonderful book that provokes thinking.

While this book is a must-read, and I'm happy to have it on my shelf, the best by far was the end, in which he outlines a final class which has no place in the hierarchy -- the X-Class. I can't say with what joy it was to have myself identified at last, defining all the reasons I feel out of place in my own culture and class, only to realize Paul Fussell knows why. And I can't thank him enough for this contribution to the culture. Read this book, you won't be disappointed.

11 comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

It is undoubtedly one of the best books I have thus far read about American culture

ByAnagha Kumaron September 12, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I read this book for the first time back in 2012 and then re-read it this Summer. It is undoubtedly one of the best books I have thus far read about American culture. Firstly, as a foreigner, it appears very peculiar to me that Americans insist they live in a classless society when that is clearly not the case. The existence of social class and the enormous role it plays in daily life, is perhaps, America's dirty little secret. One could argue that class plays a bigger role in American society than even race. As a foreigner living in the States for the past eight years, I have always been acutely aware of class in America and often jokingly refer to myself as an American class aficionado. I applaud Dr. Fussell for writing a most excellent book. Though at times scathing, this book hits the nail on the head and is refreshingly honest.

0Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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Most recent customer reviews

Good book; now read what his wife wrote

Very good and a unique voice; but perhaps not as good as his book on travel writers, "Abroad".Read more

Published 1 hour ago by Niall LEONARD

Five Stars

Super fun. Ironic, well written.

Published 25 days ago by Amazon Customer

This was a quick and amusing read. The book ...

This was a quick and amusing read. The book was written many years ago, but the portraits it paints of the various classes still hold up.

Published 27 days ago by billybudd22

Two Stars

The book is hilarious, but this edition, for some reason, has blurred, almost illegible print.

Published 28 days ago by qwertygirl

One Star

pretentious

Published 1 month ago by emy

Great explanation of U

Great explanation of U.S. class systems. The book shatters the myth that class does not exist in the U.S.
Witty. Easy to follow. Informative.

Published 1 month ago by tab

An easy introduction to the concept of social classes

An interesting book that addresses, in a semi-formal manner, the social and economic traits that are associated with groups or 'classes' of people.Read more

Published 1 month ago by Elizabeth R. Lenz

Great book for understanding current times

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Yes, it was published in the early '80s, but its truths about the American class system ring truer today than ever, especially in the...Read more

Published 2 months ago by Lexis B

Gimme More or Less ...

Overvaluation and undervaluation are the primary characteristics of class distinction. Throughout Fussell's book these distinctions cover every inch of visible eccentricity.Read more

Published 2 months ago by Phyllis Antebi Ph.D

Not so great stereotypes

There are quite a few accurate descriptions of mannerisms, but I wasn't impressed with the stereotypes of homosexual class sinking/climbing based on gender.Read more

Published 3 months ago by Jacob

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