ABSTRACT
When George Jefferson struck it rich in the dry-cleaning business, he got to move into a New York City high-rise apartment. The theme song to The Jeffersons offers a concise summary of the achievement of the American dream in an urban setting: Well we're movin on up, To the east side. The basic message of the song is that everything used to be difficult, but now things are better, because we made it. Modern Family is both critically acclaimed and a fan favorite. It has received consistently high ratings since it premiered in 2009. Class identity and class difference are established very quickly in the pilot episode of Modern Family. Class categories such as low, middle, and high— or poor, working, middle, and wealthy— are cultural categories more than official distinctions. The concept of class implies clear categorical differences between groups within a hierarchy.
