In the introductory video to this series, I explained the feudal model and the five-class classical model of how social hierarchies are displayed. These are kind of the conventional ways that people think even society, such as modern America, are constructed today. However, that analysis is deeply flawed for a number of reasons. In the rest of this video, I'm going to break down how the actual class structure, at least in my opinion, from my analysis of American economics, politics, and sociology, and how it actually works, and how it greatly differs from class systems in other parts of the world, historical class systems, and also just general misconceptions about social class in the United States. The thing to really note on the American model is the degree of competition that takes place within the elites and those rising up, which is not seen in other countries where the status of the elites is a lot more stable and is more monopolistic in nature. [Music] And as I use disclaimer that I have to say to be clear on this, um, this is more a theory, not a hardline.

fact on class structures. This is just my analysis through observation and studying history and economics and where money flows and just social pyramids across societies historically differ in significant ways and have changed greatly over time. So, the social hierarchy in the United States in the 1950s looked a lot different than it does in the 2020s, and it looked a lot different than it will in the 2070s. But let's first start with what I call the American class hierarchy, which also is probably similar in English Colonial societies such as Canada and Australia. However, I think in the latter, it's probably less mobile, and the American class hierarchy really is not a single pyramid. It's more two diverging paths. The bottom is the same, but the further you move up the hierarchy, the more diversion there is. And in times of social cohesion, the two pyramids that create the elite and the counter-elite will be closer together, if not outright merged, like they were right after World War II. But in times that are more politically tense

or there is more scarcity for a higher standard of living than it widens because there is less to go around in terms of social status and higher modern privileges than there was in the past. So, let's start from the bottom and work it up from there. The bottom is the underclass, which is really people who are dependent on the state and/or work outside the formal economy. These are the people who live on social welfare and commit a disproportionate amount of crime. Yeah, there tend to be in remote rural areas or in inner cities. The next level is the working class or the precarious class. Now, these are people who work, they make enough money to basically keep themselves alive, maybe with the help of debt, maybe not, but don't really have enough left over to save or to get ahead anyway. And you can advance out of this, and that's the thing. Like, if there's a gap, that means it's the wider the gap between each tier means the more difficult it is to advance. So, as you see, there's a

pretty sizable gap between the underclass and the working class due to a lot of negative incentives built into the social welfare system and some of the poor habits developed from just growing up in the underclass culture. The working class, precarious class, can move up if they are competent at their job or get an education that could be, or if they have an education, apply in a way that can earn them more money. The next level is the middle class or the clerical class. These are people who do a lot of the corporate administration-type jobs or a lot of the things that kind of keep the trains running on time, the lights on in society. These range from bureaucratic office jobs to truck drivers to those who do a lot of other things, but the thing in common is that they are employees or independent contractors that aren't really true businesses. And/or they also tend to, again, they have a little bit left over, so they're not completely paycheck to paycheck per se. They have some disposable income, but not enough to really ever make a

material dent to get out of working there boring nine to five job. These people, this tier, tends to be the least political also in American society. The next level, this is where also where it starts to split because you can either choose to align with the establishment Elite or you can choose to go your own way and protest against the established Elite. And where the rest of this one we're gonna work top down because it really won't make any of the sense. The Establishment Elite are basically the people who have institutional control and privilege in society. These can be old money, these be the people who run the major corporations, these are the top-ranking officials in government and politicians in the inner party, which is the faction within American politics that has the dominant cultural institutional control. And they are also anybody who is wealthy who has gone wealthy through going through the establishment or being supported by the establishment. That’s the establishment Elite. You can the next the thing is in common with them all is that they have been successful through either

just being entitled to that through class inheritance or institutional inheritance through being related to powerful families in the past or they got there through their relationships with these people and or being beholden to their interests and then adopting their values and becoming part of the pie. So, that's why you see, for example, that these people all tend to share the same cultural values, even if they come from technically different backgrounds, because it's a go-along-to-get-along type culture. Usually, to be an establishment elite, you gotta go to the right universities or have the right social circles or be a talent that is recognized early by this group and trained by them, like a lot of celebrities are. The next tier below that is the, I call them the Ivy League class. Only what differs the Ivy League class and the establishment elites is that the Ivy League class still has to work for a living, and the establishment elite, they do not really have to work for a living anymore. And that's the differential here is that

you can have people of higher incomes in the Ivy League class, the institutional professional class, than the establishment elite. But the establishment either has enough generational wealth or they have enough institutional credibility that they don't have to be constantly working to maintain their wealth and their lifestyle. That's what really differentiates the elites from the rest of these classes in the American class hierarchy, is that both the elite and the counter-elite have enough money that they do not have to work and do not have any lack. Like, if you are somebody super frugal and saves a million dollars and retires, but you still have to live off of forty thousand dollars a year, which is your four percent interest, and budget on that, you're not elite. You're just somebody who saved a lot and fortunately was able to retire and keep their costs down. The true elites are people who can live the lavish lifestyles of the wealthiest suburbs of America and not have to work, independently wealthy, whether through their own means or through connections.

establishingly is through connections and playing the game of the people who the political class want you to. It's also part of the reason why a lot of people adopt a lot of, again, a lot of the same social views. It's a hard-to-go-along-to-get-along game, whereas the Ivy League class are people who are working to become part of the establishment elite. A lot of them won't ever make it there, but these people went to Ivy League universities. They tend to be very intelligent, but they also tend to be very conforming. They want to be part of the establishing elite and are willing to. These are high-level corporate executives, a lot of lawyers, a lot of doctors, academics, elite universities. These people will make well over a hundred thousand dollars a year, and they feel like they are on their way to becoming the establishment elite. But whether it's due to just having to live on the social treadmill of spending high, or they just, or progressive taxation, which hits this group the hardest.

because they are W-2 employees but have high income, so they don't really have the advantages of business owners on the tax side. Yet, they also have the high expectations of living a certain lifestyle, so they can't really break through to save enough to become the establishment Elite. It takes a lot more money to live a two hundred thousand dollar a year lifestyle or four hundred thousand dollar a year lifestyle without having to work. If you get a four percent interest rate, that's 10 million dollars you need in assets. It's very difficult to save 10 million dollars before you turn 70 on a 250,000 dollar a year job. There are ways you can do it, and then you break into the establishment Elite, or your salary goes high enough by just moving up the pyramid. But this is extremely competitive; it's the Ivy League classes' accomplishment itself because less than one percent of college students can get into the Ivy League or similar level of prestigious universities. These people differentiate

themselves again through the quality of their education, their ability to buy into the establishment elite ethos, or what they think that they want. They have a very high work ethic, but maybe not necessarily a high level of critical thinking, or even if they do, a willingness to challenge the system or take risks. The left I would consider really the low, the safer quote-unquote path, while the right side is the more riskier path. The institutional professional classes, the next level below the Ivy League class, these are people who did not go to Ivy League institutions and they lack the social connections of the people in the Ivy League class, but they still are at a higher level than the middle class. This is probably the one to two hundred thousand dollar a year corporate professional job, and the Ivy League is probably the two classes, probably in income terms, 200 to 500 thousand dollars a year, managerial jobs, or maybe even a little higher than that nowadays. And these are not solely determined on income, but I'm just kind of using that.

to help paint a picture here, and the institutional professional class's job is to really kind of provide the Professional Services needed for their establishment Elite and ideally class clients. That's really their role or to help kind of manage the management for the middle and clerical classes. That's their kind of their role. The other side is, I call the more independent rebellious path that leads the counter Elite. You have the independent professional class. These are people who did not really go through the traditional path, like they didn't go to maybe the prestige universities. Like some of these people may have not even gone to college, but they've been managed to build a nice niche. A lot of these people are in emerging Industries. Like the left side has more people work at Big corporations, and they have the resumes to and the willingness to conform to fit into those, whereas the right column are more people who don't and figure out how a way to make themselves get ahead anyway. These people can be business owners who

are emerging on their way to success, that they make the income similar to the institutional professional class, but they do it as independent business owners or independent contractors. People work for small businesses, me and says to provide a valuable service. They are people who just are not really kind of aligned with the institutions and were either excluded for certain reasons or just shows that they wanted to take a different path. So next, and these again are mostly emerging entrepreneurs. I think really the differentiation really for class is not necessarily like how much money you make; it's more how you make your money and how much you have left over. So I based the up to basically people how much money you have left over after expenses, and the left and the right is really just how tired are you to the established social order and political cultural elite for your livelihood. The people on the left side of this pyramid are more tied to them; the people on the right are more anti-fragile. The next level, successful business owners like people who have been able to build a business.

that is self-sustaining to the point that they'll never have to try to go back into the institutional ladder, and they can make the same income level as the Ivy League class without having to go up the corporate ladder. That's what I would put in the successful business owners. And then the counter Elite are basically people who've gotten the same maybe level of establishment Elite wealth without being part of their Social Circle for various reasons. Maybe it's because they just didn't get along with them, they didn't share the certain same values, like a lot of immigrant families who become wealthy end up in the counter Elite for this reason. Also, it could just be a cultural or political difference. Like historically, you would see establishment and counter elites on both sides of the political aisle, but really the election of 2016 has shifted the political dynamic between us, the institutional Wing being now the more political left side, and the counter Elite being the political right. But that has rarely been the case in American history. You've had people on both sides.

of the political aisle and each category and still do. It's just got the crease and polarization. A lot of it is this split, and if you do something that in the establishment elite that is not very well regarded or not makes you a prior disliked like being canceled, you can get kicked out. And you still have your wealth and power, or maybe not. You don't have your power. I mean, you still have your financial wealth, and you still can not have to work anymore. You're still in the elite, but you've been the counter-elite. The main difference in the establishment elite and the counter-elite is the establishment elite has disproportionate influence in terms of political and social power outside of just purely money, whereas the counter-elite really only has money and lacks institutional and cultural power. The internet has really kind of changed that as the counter-elite can do independent platforms that are separate from the establishment elite. And however, like really if somebody does become successful enough, they integrate into the establishment elite, which is why you see like

a common thing if every major corporation University going woke is because that's what the establishment Elite wants them to do, and that's kind of a signal that I'm part of the establishment Elite or I'm part or I'm on the institutional ladder. That's what all this is about. That used to mean different things in different times. In the olden days, maybe that was converting to Protestantism. Nowadays, it's wokeism. It could again, it could mean different things in different areas, but there's certain signals that say I'm either part of the institutional pyramid or I'm part of the rebellious pyramid. And usually, when you've had major changes in the political and social culture in American history, is when the counter Elite gathers enough resources and is able to unite the lower parts of the pyramid to knock off the establishmently and become the new counterly. If they fail, then there's usually significant legal and political and financial consequence that failure. But there are examples of that's what when you have a real major change in a

country's society and culture that has this type of hierarchy. It's when the counter Elite knocks off the establishment Elite. This one has gone on so long. I was originally going to do these on each one in a single video, but instead, I'm just gonna do a separate video for each one of these class hierarchies because there's a lot to this. But let me know if you have any questions. Again, this is me trying to put in just something that I see in the world via intuition into a readable chart. So my examples and my tiers may not be perfect here, but I'd like to make this a broader conversation. What are your thoughts on the American class hierarchy? Am I right that it's really just the battle between those who are on the establishment ladder versus the counter Elite ladder, and the differentiator is not necessarily your education but your income? That is like the common misconception, but more of how you make your money, how much you have left over, and what kind of Freedom you have because of that. And notice on

another thing, uh, I did not mention anything on race or ethnicity or religion or gender because those don't really matter on this. It's which it's really all of those are used as weapons for the establishment Elite and the counter Elite to fight each other, and that's the whole point I'm trying to get at here, uh. This is all our modern political polarization is really just the counter Elite and the establishmently fighting on who gets to control the country. The establishmently obviously feels at risk that their position is not as secure as it used to be, and so I think a lot of it is lashing out but who. And I think if people understood that this is the way that the system would work, I think that there would be a lot less division because the goal really of a lot of these controversial issues that are made the way they are that aren't really related to economic balance is to get the bottom tiers to fight against each other so they don't realize that or to fight

the wars or they'll establishment Elite and the counter Elite to realize that they are being played by both establishmently and the counterly. Uh, let me know what you think.

American Class Hierarchy System

American Class Hierarchy System

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