Has the concept of social class vanished?

Through years, society has been divided in different classes: _{under class}, middle class and ^{upper class}. Hierarchical distinctions have been mostly given by people's economical condition. In nowadays' society, we do not appreciate social classes, but have they really disappeared?

We cannot deny that poverty exists. It is not necessary to pay a ticket to Africa; if we look around us we will be able to see that poverty is not just a problem of the Third World. Everybody has heard the phrase "a coin, please" while he/she was walking down the street. The ones that have not heard this, we advise you to go to a specialist, because we think that it is impossible not to meet someone that belongs to the 19% of the people who suffer from poverty in Spain. Moreover, Jean Ross, executive director of California Budget Policy, affirms that in California the difference between poor and rich people is increasing.

How would you call these people? No one has thought in the words "under class"? And, thinking about the rich ones, how about “upper class”? How can we deny that social classes exist if we all try to get to an upper class and avoid going down to an underclass?

We love using the words "middle class"; we are used to generalize it to the whole country. Although statistics say that we are the majority, it is impossible to forget about poor people, because it is obvious that we do not forget about the rich ones. Envy is so bad, isn't it?
To sum up, stop and think twice. Do you really think Paris Hilton would invite a beggar to her house? Not so far; and would you invite a beggar to your house? I am not so sure about it.


                                                                       /Egal