Differences in Worldview Exhibited by the Different Social Classes

Humans are social animals. They can not live alone in this world all by themselves. All humans need other humans in order to live their lives properly. They might be able to live without fulfilling their emotional desires etc but they can certainly not live without fulfilling certain material needs such as food. For example, even if a person manages to live without friends and family who fulfill emotional needs and needs of belongingness, he will not be able to live properly without the farmer who grows food or the barber who cuts his hair.

Thus, humans live in large groups of people where different people perform different duties and make each other’s lives simpler, easier and better to live. If one person does something, he needs the other one to do something else and this way, they exchange the benefits of performing one task rather properly instead of doing many things in a haphazard manner. These groups of people are called societies. Societies are the basis of lifestyles and cultures (Fiona, 1997). However, this all is not that simple.

Some humans in the societies are much better off than many others while, in contrast, some are way below the line. Some enjoy best opportunities of life while some don’t even have proper food to eat. Hence, there exists a whole system of social classes in which there are various blocks or sub-groups of people based upon various factors like income brackets, life styles, cultures, religions, nationalities and so on. (Crothers, 1996) Social Classes These social classes perform various different duties in the societies and have entirely different lifestyles and outlook of life.

These classes live physically in the same world, but in actuality, their worlds are absolutely different. In fact, different is a very weak a word to describe how apart they are. The people belonging to these classes have entirely different world views and perceive the world totally differently depending on there life styles and circumstances. Although different types of societies are divided into various kinds of social classes, in its essence, there are three basic social classes based on the income levels that exist in almost every society (Fiona, 1997).

These classes do not exist in isolation, but are intermingled. Moreover, it is more like a continuum, that is, transition classes like Upper-Middle Class exist as well. These are the class differences that advertisers should be aware of in targeting different classes of people. World Views Exhibited by Social Classes The perception of the world, by the social classes, varies widely.

The rich people have no idea what poverty is and what is it like to earn living on a daily basis. The Upper Class or the Elite people sit at the executive positions giving orders to the working class (The Middle and Lower Classes). To the rich, the world is heaven where they can whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. They just wish for it and bingo! Generally they disregard the poor, as if it is their birth right to be rich. Whatever they do is right and they have they right to exploit everyone and everything below them. (Summer, 2008)

In contrast, the working class’s life revolves around work and is spent struggling balancing work and life. However, the life of middle class (generally the educated portion of the working class) is comparatively easier than that of the lower class (mostly uneducated or poorly educated). The middle class people live a comparatively moderate life when it comes to income and fulfillment of desires (Crothers, 2008). They perceive the world to be generally uncomfortable but not like hell.

For them, there is misery, exploitation and tough luck in this world, but there is a ray of hope as well, since due to their education and experiences, they do have a chance to work hard and jump up to the upper class. Out of all classes, the lower class is the one which suffers the most in these and other dimensions. For them, there is very rarely a ray of hope of getting any better. To them, the world is like hell, full of miseries, poverty and exploitation (be it social, moral, political or any other exploitation) and life can never be good no matter how hard they try.

Conclusion

Therefore, I conclude, that although these social classes exist in the same world under the same sun, the perception that they have of this world is entirely different. The rich continue to exploit the poor while the poor keep on being exploited, living in disappointments, doing nothing about it. The rich has absolutely no idea what poor goes through, each and every single day while the poor has no clue to what it is like to be rich. (Summer, 2008)