But Japan was never a European colony and in fact had its own colonial empire
before World War II. None of these countries received significant European economic
assistance until the Cold War, when the world was taking up sides in the apocalyp-
tic conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Japan, South Korea, and
Taiwan, just a few miles from the Communists, could function as political (and sym-
bolic) bulkheads of democracy, so the United States and its allies poured money and
military aid into them. Later, when increasingly efficient global transportation and
communication systems made importing manufactured items from long distances eco-
nomically viable, they began aggressively exporting locally produced merchandise,
until “made in Japan” and “made in Korea” became clichés for cheap, mass-produced
articles. Once, when I was in Paris, I picked up a cheap ceramic gargoyle in one of
the tourist kiosks that line the Left Bank. It wasn’t until I got back to my hotel that
I checked the bottom, and saw the words—in English: “Made in Japan.”Class Identity and Class Inequality
in the 21st Century
Today, class continues to have a remarkable impact in our lives—from the type of
education or health care you receive to the type of job you’ll have, whom you’ll marry,
and even how long you’ll live and how many children you’ll have. The decline in
social mobility in the United States makes America increasingly a nation of rich and
poor, as in every country there are rich people and poor people, as well as rich coun-
tries and poor countries. The gap grows daily. As a result, “being born in the elite in
the U.S. gives you a constellation of privileges that very few people in the world have
ever experienced,” notes David Levine, an economist who researches social mobility
and class in America. But, comparatively, “being poor in the U.S. gives you disad-
vantages unlike anything in Western Europe and Japan and Canada” (cited in Scott
and Leonhardt, 2005).
Just as class increases in importance and class inequality increases in its impact
on our everyday lives and our society, so too do Americans continue to disavow its
importance. We may be becoming a nation of rich and poor, but we continue to as-
sert that we’re all middle class, and that class has little bearing on our lives. Perhaps
that Oxford professor was onto something.238 CHAPTER 7STRATIFICATION AND SOCIAL CLASS
Chapter
Review1.What is social stratification, and why does it exist? All
societies are stratified into layers, with those on top gen-
erally having more power, privilege, and prestige than
those on the bottom. Stratification is often based on
wealth, income, or birth. A society’s system of stratifi-
cation is often accompanied by a justifying ideology that
is accepted by most people.2.What does social stratification look like? The main
two forms of social stratification are caste and class. In
a caste system, one is born into a group and can never
leave that group. Class is the most common modern
form of stratification and is based on wealth, income,
and, to some extent, birth. A class system allows for
social mobility, or movement up or down the social class