upper class

upper class
As a concrete, descriptive term in British studies of social stratification, the upper class is a dominant social class that owes a great deal to its close status affinities with the ‘aristocracy’. The latter is the (often hereditary) noble class, comprising peers (in medieval England the dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons) and landed magnates (or ‘gentlemen’). However, while the aristocracy is an important symbolic element of the upper class, it does not completely account for its membership today. As a dominant class, it comprises the bourgeoisie or capitalist class. The upper class is a property-owning class living from earnings made from the ownership, control, and exploitation of property such as land, capital, large businesses, or share holdings, and whose members enjoy superior, traditionally grounded status privileges. Proportionally,...

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