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IBT-SAT IBT-SAT — — IIBBTT--SSAATT —— 小马过河 专业备考社区 Barron Barron BBaarrrroonn 完整阅读文本第四套 4.1LayersofSocialClass Taken together, income, occupation, and education are good measures of people ’ s social standing. Using a layered model of stratification, most sociologists describe the class system in the United States as divided into several classes: upper, upper middle, middle, lower middle, and lower class. Eachclassisdefinedbycharacteristicssuchasincome,occupationalprestige, and educational attainment. The different groups are arrayed along a continuumwiththosewiththemostmoney,education,andprestigeatthetop andthosewiththeleastatthebottom. In the United States, the upper class owns the major share of corporate and personalwealth;itincludesthosewhohaveheldwealthforgenerationsaswell as those who have recently become rich. Only a very small proportion of people actually constitute the upper class, but they control vast amounts of wealth and power in the United States. They exercise enormous control throughoutsociety.Mostoftheirwealthisinherited. Desoite social myths to the contrary, the best predictor of future wealth is the family into which you are born. Each year, the business magazine Forbes publishesalistofthe “Forbes400”—thefourhundredwealthiestfamiliesand IBT-SAT IBT-SAT — — IIBBTT--SSAATT —— 小马过河 专业备考社区 individualsinthecountry.OfallthewealthrepresentedontheForbes400list, morethanhalfisinherite