The idea of “wealth” is hard to determine, certainly. Is one person wealthy because they have a big house, a nice car, and fancy clothes? There would probably not be much contention – they would be seen as wealthy. By the same token, a person who does not have these things is probably not seen as wealthy. Yet, this ideology is ultimately flawed. No one can ever truly determine wealth based on appearance alone. Many people choose to distribute their money differently – savings account deposits instead of new cars, investments instead of clothes. Even “hipsters” – who typically spend sizable portions of money in order to look like they don’t spend a lot of money – can be hard to classify as wealthy or poor.
The problem with defining classes in America is that not everything is black and white. True, there are some people that are blatantly rich, or upper class, and blatantly poor, or lower class. But these people do not make up the majority of America. Though it is obviously unfair to judge people based on appearance, most of the time that is all people have to go on. Additionally, classes intermingle now more than ever before. This all begs the question: do classes have any validity? Perhaps not validity, but any importance? The immediate answer for most people would probably be yes, but the more I think about it, the more I am not sure.
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