Society

It is a funny way we organize ourselves.

We have family names and titles and associations with employment, sports, hobbies, faith, behavior, gender, and skin color….

And we sort ourselves into categories, mostly due to privilege.

Or wealth? Or majority?

So what is the high society? The wealthy or the celebrity or the ones who appear on the red carpet and in the tabloids, are they the high society? Are they the ones we wish to emulate?

They live in big houses. They drive flashy cars. They travel on private jets. They throw lavish parties. They pay outrageous bills.

What about the other 99% of us?

After the war (WWII) the troops came home and the goal was to become the ‘middle class’. What is the ‘middle class’?

Houses were being built. Refrigerators were being constructed. Automobiles were rolling off the production lines. Schools and churches and hospitals and restaurants were being plopped into what was becoming ‘suburban middle class’.

These were the images from Life magazine or on the national television news base associated with. Without striving to become a CEO with it’s requirements, most just wanted an acceptable salary to raise a family, be acceptable in the neighborhood while trying to pay for insurance and save something to retire on.

This was the class that wanted their children to attend college with hopes of getting out of the ancestry of military, manufacturing, typing pools or manual labor.

What about the other caste?

Those who could not get quality education or housing or employment? How do they climb up the social ladder?

As defined a society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.

Societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its constituent of members.

In the social sciences, a larger society often exhibits stratification or dominance patterns in subgroups.

A society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis; both individual and social (common) benefits can thus be distinguished, or in many cases found to overlap.

A society can also consist of like-minded people governed by their own norms and values within a dominant, larger society. This is sometimes referred to as a subculture, a term used extensively within criminology.

A society may be illustrated as an economic, social, industrial or cultural infrastructure, made up of, yet distinct from, a varied collection of individuals. In this regard society can mean the objective relationships people have with the material world and with other people, rather than “other people” beyond the individual and their familiar social environment.

After all that definition, society should be all the creatures of the planet working together, but….

Society is based on wealth, power, and righteous behavior as declared by the elders. Society is about class (or caste system).

So if you are financial sufficient, have necessaries plus unnecessary toys, more clothing than you could ever wear, third or fourth marriage to have a pretty face on your arm when you attend the constant party circuit and must reply with an overwhelming display of narcissistic pride.

If not in that social class, many aspired for the ‘middle class’. A stable marriage, good employment, two kids, a suburban house with a neatly trimmed lawn, weekend backyard barbecues and regular church attendance was the American Dream. There was no talk of domestic violence, alcohol addiction, teen pregnancy, traffic congestion, credit card debt, lazy children and animal abuse. The status of this caste required putting on a façade with constant purchase of new automobiles, remodeling, children’s sports or academic accomplishments and membership in community clubs and associations.

Then there are the less fortunate. Those without the skills or opportunities to employment, living in public housing with the corner bodegas and constant police patrols are the lower caste.

Each society class (or caste) has levels of prestige or aggression or defined power. It is a pyramid of power and wealth.

Be happy where you are on the society totem pole.