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1、IBT-SAT小马过河—专业备考社区Barron完整阅读文本第四套4.1LayersofSocialClassTakentogether,income,occupation,andeducationaregoodmeasuresofpeople’ssocialstanding.Usingalayeredmodelofstratification,mostsociologistsdescribetheclasssystemintheUnitedStatesasdividedintoseveralclas
2、ses:upper,uppermiddle,middle,lowermiddle,andlowerclass.Eachclassisdefinedbycharacteristicssuchasincome,occupationalprestige,andeducationalattainment.Thedifferentgroupsarearrayedalongacontinuumwiththosewiththemostmoney,education,andprestigeatthetopandtho
3、sewiththeleastatthebottom.IntheUnitedStates,theupperclassownsthemajorshareofcorporateandpersonalwealth;itincludesthosewhohaveheldwealthforgenerationsaswellasthosewhohaverecentlybecomerich.Onlyaverysmallproportionofpeopleactuallyconstitutetheupperclass,b
4、uttheycontrolvastamountsofwealthandpowerintheUnitedStates.Theyexerciseenormouscontrolthroughoutsociety.Mostoftheirwealthisinherited.Desoitesocialmythstothecontrary,thebestpredictoroffuturewealthisthefamilyintowhichyouareborn.Eachyear,thebusinessmagazine
5、Forbespublishesalistofthe“Forbes400”—thefourhundredwealthiestfamiliesandIBT-SAT小马过河—专业备考社区individualsinthecountry.OfallthewealthrepresentedontheForbes400list,morethanhalfisinherited.Thoseonthelistwhocouldbecalled“self-made”werenottypicallyofmodestorigin
6、s;mostinheritedsignificantassets(Forbes,1997;SklarandCollins,1997).Thoseintheupperclasswithnewlyacquiredwealthareknownasthenouveauriche.Althoughtheymayhavevastamountsofmoney,theyareoftennotacceptedinto“oldrich”circles.Theuppermiddleclassincludesthosewit
7、hhighincomesandhighsocialprestige.Theytendtobewell-educatedprofessionalsorbusinessexecutives.Theirearningscanbequitehighindeed—successfulbusinessexecutivescanearnmillionsofdollarsayear.Itisdifficulttoestimateexactlyhowmanypeoplefallintothisgroupbecauseo
8、fthedifficultyofdrawinglinesbetweentheupper,uppermiddle,andmiddleclass.Indeed,theuppermiddleclassisoftenthoughtofas“middleclass”becausetheirlifestylesetsthestandardtowhichmanyaspire,butthislifestyleissimplybeyondthemeansofamajori
