ABSTRACT
Subcultures and castes, because their members are isolated or excluded from the main body of society, have limited relevance to the behavioral patterns of society as a whole. Just the reverse is true of social classes. Not only do they cut across both subcultural and caste lines, and contain members of all races, all religions, and all ethnic groups, but in addition they have pervasive influence upon all American cultural behaviors. But when one looks more closely at this surface picture of commonality, one finds that social class determines the particular form of language used, the type of legislator one votes for, the kind of school one's child attends, one's taste in clothes and food and books and friends. Historically, the division was between the aristocracy—monarch, nobles, and priesthood—and the proletariat. In industrialized countries like our own, it is the professionals and managers who are at the top of the social heap.
