Class
A Guide Through the American Status System
by Paul Fussell, Martim de Avillez · first published 1983
52% recommend46% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
Funny, judgmental tour of the American status system, showing how class works through taste, consumption and signaling rather than income. Short and entertaining, for readers curious about class and status.
Common criticism: Dated in parts; some specifics of status signaling have changed
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Paul Fussell explodes the sacred American myth of social equality ... guide to the signs, symbols, and customs of the American class system ... Fussell shows us how our status is revealed by everything we do, say, and own. He describes the houses, objects, artifacts, speech, clothing styles, and intellectural proclivities of American classes from the top to the bottom"--Back cover.
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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I highly recommend this book, which is dated but holds up pretty well. I found it funny, sad, but overall just brutal in its characterizations of class in America. It's only available in print too: https://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/... My overall takeaways from the book were: 1. Class is correlated with income, but not identical.…
on “How does ‘class-passing’ actually work?” ↗I strongly recommend that you read Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell. Although it was written in 1983, it is still the best description of the American class system that I have ever read. It's less than 200 pages,…
on “I Wasn’t Prepared to Work” ↗I enjoy reading what and how you write. Which is why I enjoy HN. << I should be largely invisible to the enforcer class. The genie is out of the bottle. My health suffers if I think and express myself like you just did, although very eloquently. My roots are academic but my current state is prole. (ever read Fussell's…
on “Postal Service almost never denies mail-surveillance requests” ↗If you’re interested in this stuff, the book, Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell is an entertaining and insightful book (from 1983, so a bit dated in parts but well worth it). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class:_A_Guide_Through_the_Ame...
on “The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class” ↗…income instead of culture and wealth. Aside from the great american fantasy that we're all equal other than the minor detail of where we go to work today, LOL. In literature its quite a bit different. "Class" by Paul Fussell goes over the cultural differences while glossing over mere employment. I enjoyed that book, it was fun reading it and seeing how accurately he called out various class behavior I observed…
on “TV’s Dwindling Middle Class” ↗It's the "X-Class" from Paul Fussell's classic book _Class: A Guide Through the American Status System_ retooled for the present day. https://www.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-System/...
on “Being basic as a virtue” ↗It's a bit out of date but this book is really interesting on American social class: https://smile.amazon.com/Class-Through-American-Status-Syste... > though I wouldn't recommend taking a Facebook test that offers to tell you where you lay hahah, indeed....
on “Americans Judge Social Class” ↗> I think the author tried to pack a little too much into this article... That's a problem with blog posts. A dated, but amusing book length expansion on this topic is "Class", by Paul Fussell.
"Class", by Paul Fussell, is a fun read. It's from 1981 and reads like a period piece today, but it's still a good read. Somehow, "Black Lives Matter" morphed into "Defund the Police", which turned into a joke.…
on “Luxury Beliefs Are Status Symbols” ↗“Class” by Paul Fussell, is a good (if arch) read on this angle.
on “Are people who make $200k middle-class?” ↗Better covered by works like Fussell's Class. This just reads like low-content hustle porn.
on “Status vs. Wealth: Why the Rich Don't Act Rich” ↗…signaling thing. In the case of something like sneakers with a big brand logo on them, it’s likely someone “low” trying to signal to their peers that they’ve made it (whether they have or not). See: Fussell’s Class, or The Official Preppy Handbook for signaling rules specific to the upper-middle and upper classes (very expensive sneakers with swooshes: big no. Somewhat expensive tennis shoes with wear patterns from…
on “Neiman Marcus files for bankruptcy” ↗If you're interested in this phenomenon, you might like Paul Fussell's Class: A Guide Through the American Status System http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/course/status.htm
on “Life of solitude: A loneliness crisis is looming” ↗A lot of that is covered in: Class: A Guide Through the American Status System by Paul Fussell Link: http://a.co/406UQB1
on “How does ‘class-passing’ actually work?” ↗No need to go for the throat there. And especially not when you're not totally correct. Paul Fussell's Class documents the exact phenomenon OP describes. Wealth is not class [1]; class is much more complex. For example, poor academics are higher class than rich blue-collar workers. Donald Trump is crazy rich…
on “Poor in Tech” ↗