We were asked to draw what we think the social class hierarchy looks like in our country.
Most people had diagrams like this one.
But that leaves us of course in a difficult position when it comes to definitions. What are the indicators of an upper or lower middle class? How can you tell? It's like drawing a line in the sand.
I went up to the board and drew society as I see it:
This one is easy to understand and simple to classify people.
Just ask them how much they earn and whether they are happy lor.
Oh and poor people are outclassed and not part of the society.
People in my class get jaded realising how difficult it is to climb the social ladder.
But in my view of society, what is important is not how high we are, coz only so few can be on top, but how happy and satisfied we are with our lives.
That's a goal more attainable.
Most people had diagrams like this one.
But that leaves us of course in a difficult position when it comes to definitions. What are the indicators of an upper or lower middle class? How can you tell? It's like drawing a line in the sand.
I went up to the board and drew society as I see it:
Just ask them how much they earn and whether they are happy lor.
Oh and poor people are outclassed and not part of the society.
"There are no homeless, destitute or starving people [in Singapore]…Poverty has been eradicated."
Kishore Mahbubani, Singapore's permanent representative to the UN
People in my class get jaded realising how difficult it is to climb the social ladder.
But in my view of society, what is important is not how high we are, coz only so few can be on top, but how happy and satisfied we are with our lives.
That's a goal more attainable.
Is outclass a soci term? I always thought the word for it was outcast...
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure ya know. Outcast is a more specific term to a caste system I thought. So i assumed in society that uses a class system they would be called that.
ReplyDeleteI checked dictionary.reference.com, apparently "outcast" is actually a pretty general term. The definition given is:
ReplyDelete–noun
1. a person who is rejected or cast out, as from home or society: In the beginning the area was settled by outcasts, adventurers, and felons.
2. a homeless wanderer; vagabond.
3. rejected matter; refuse.
–adjective
1. cast out, as from one's home or society: an outcast son.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of an outcast: outcast misery.
3. rejected or discarded: outcast opinions.
"caste system" is defined as: a social structure in which classes are determined by heredity, like you would see in feudal China and in the caste system of India.
Orh... so is there an outcaste?
ReplyDeleteDepends on context. I went to check again, "outcaste" would be someone who has been cast out of his/her caste or has no caste. And "caste" refers mostly to categorisation of classes via hereditary means.
ReplyDeleteTherefore outcaste is to caste system as to outclass is to class system, i think? ask your professors :D