Social Class in America (1957)

[Music] newborn American babies newborn citizens of these United States free and with rights guaranteed by the Constitution but let's take a closer look these new arrivals in a typical American town have equal legal rights but in social class they are not equal at all status to him by his family and ascribed to him at Birth meet Guilford Ames 3D the latest addition to one of the town's upper class [Music] families Gilford am second is the wealthiest man in town he owns a a large Factory the Ames family is one of the oldest families in the community and so it represents social Prestige as well as [Music] wealth this is where an Ames family has lived for the last 100 years and this is where Guilford Ames third will live when he leaves the hospital with his mother like most of the babies here this one Theodore Eastwood by name has an ascribed status of middle class his father is Joseph Eastwood High School educated and a white collar worker in the Ames Factory he has a steady skillful job and is Comfortably off but the chances are that he will not Advance much Beyond his present status the mortgage on his house is on its way to being paid and someday it undoubtedly will be although Young Ted Eastwood has an ascribed status of middle class he may be able to better it the class status he achieves during his lifetime may be higher than the one he was born with this could be true too of this baby David Benton whose ascribed status is lower class [Music] David's father is Michael Benton an unskilled factory worker who has a meager [Music] education Mr Benton rents the Upper Floor of a two family house in a rundown section of town the ability to rise from an ascribed status to an achieved one is called vertical mobility and is particularly characteristic of the United States there are class Lines within each General group and these vary geographically and in relation to nationality religion and race class exists in the United States as it does everywhere and it plays a vital part in the life of every Community let us follow the lives of these three babies and see how class affects them 18 years later Gil Ted and Dave are in the graduating class of the town's high school after the commencement exercises the three boys who are good friends meet to say goodbye next fall Gil Ames is going to attend an ivy league university Ted who took a commercial course in high school plans to get a white collar job like his father's Dave is going to work too so that he can add to his family's income friends forever they've said well maybe in a way but these boys come from families of different classes and the lines of social class are real here in America as they are everywhere in Europe in Asia and even in the Soviet Union as the years pass class boundaries will separate Gil and Ted and Dave more and more the boundaries between Ted's middle class parents and Dave's lower class parents are as important as those that lie between the upper and the middle classes even the simple event of graduation from high school has a different significance for the boys and their [Music] families for Gil it is only a milestone in his formal education later that night Mr ases has a serious talk with his son Mr Ames tells Gil that he sent him to public high school so that he could gain a democratic background but now he's about to enter an environment more in keeping with his social position at College he will meet men of his own kind Gil understands because all already he has developed an awareness of his class its patterns and its [Music] [Applause] rules in another part of town the eastwoods have just finished dinner and Mr future Ted's record in high school was generally good but there was one subject in which he excelled drawing t would like to do something professionally in the art field but his father discourages him in the light of Mr Eastwood's own experience security lies in business and white collar work Ted sees his father's point of view and agrees that the commercial courses he took in high school have prepared him for office work and so that's the kind of job he'll look [Music] for in the Benton household grad graduation from high school is an event worthy of Celebration and a family party in Dave's honor is in [Music] progress Mr Benton proudly announces to the guests that Dave has already gone out and found himself a job in the Benton family and among their neighbors economic pressures are important Dave's initiative in finding work is highly regarded by all of them and his parents are justifiably proud 4 years later Dave 22 now has a job at a local gas station although he's still only a gas station attendant he's studying to be an automobile mechanic the driver of the car is his old friend of high school days Gil Ames Gil has graduated from college now and is on his way to start work in his father's Factory Dave is going to be married just as soon as his job of autome mechanic comes [Music] through Gil's first day of work in his father's Factory turned up still another familiar face Ted Eastwood has a job in the bookkeeping Department Mr Ames is taking his son on a tour of all the Departments of the factory someday Gil will take over the business and today he's beginning to learn about [Music] it kind of rocked you didn't it Gil Ames with his future all laid out for him but you you're Ted Eastwood stuck in a job you'll be in all your life why don't you get out what's keeping you here anyway Mary blakesley you thought you'd marry her but remember what she said that day in the car her car of course but can't you see it's impossible Ted it's not just money we live in different worlds sure different worlds inside this town but there are other worlds bigger towns you've got some money saved go to New York give it a try for 6 months and if you fail only you're not going to [Music] fail and Ted didn't fail he had talent and the ability to work hard he started with a job in the art Department of a large advertising agency they called him a production assistant but actually he was a sort of glorified Aaron boy but at least he was through with bookkeeping and close to the kind of work he liked at night he took courses in Commercial Art and advertising and spent a good deal of his free time working and studying at home in the years that followed Ted gained a thorough technical knowledge of his [Music] field by the time he was 30 years old he was the head of the art Department of an advertising agency horizontal mobility moving from one place to another has resulted in vertical mobility for Ted Eastwood a movement upward from his ascribed status to an achieved status that is largely the result of his professional standing class lines are drawn differently in a large City like New York although they are still there here professional standing power and wealth are of great importance it is possible for members of socially prominent families theater people who may have come from the lower class and successful businessmen of the middle class to mix socially and Ted is an accepted member of the group but when Ted returns to his hometown on a vacation how does he Fair has he a new achieved status back there too when he meets the girl he wanted to marry have things changed the town is small enough so that Mary has heard about Ted's success in New York but this isn't New York Mary is married to Gil now and although they are friendly enough toward Ted he still isn't part of their world and he never will be in this town the ascribed status of his parents is still the class to which he [Music] belongs Ted's mother brings him up to date on all the town gossip but he only half hears her the meeting with Mary has stirred old memories in him he's remembering what she said to him about different worlds he knows now that to her and Gil he still the nice kid from the wrong side of the railroad tracks no matter how successful he is his achieved status is is higher than that of his father's because he has a profession but that status depends on a place in this case New York Dave Benton on the other hand has changed his status hardly at all he's now a skilled auto mechanic and although his achieved status is not much better than the one ascribed to him by his family financially he will be be able to provide better for his wife and children his third child a son was born in the local hospital just yesterday this new Benton baby has the ascribed status given him by his family he may as he grows up reach a higher achieved status as Ted eastw did or he may as his own father did stay in the class to which he was born his vertical mobility will depend greatly upon him his character his talents and abilities it will possibly depend too upon geographical Mobility because the criteria for class boundaries vary from place to place and so it will be for all these babies all citizens all equal before the the law but not the same by standards of [Music] class