ABSTRACT
They are the most talked about social class. Its members are both resented and envied, and for the same reason: because they have so much. In the jargon, their life chances far surpass those of other social classes. Their notoriety is, perhaps, the reason why few people admit to being a member (recall the results of the class identification question in Chapter 4). They are the rich. Americans like to believe that ours is a society of opportunity and the existence of this class of people appears to epitomize the American Dream: Anyone can become rich, or so it seems.
