Rating: 
Summary: This book is over 20 years old
Review: The world according to Fussell in 1982 is quite a bit different than the current century. The author himself states in an early chapter that outward indications of class change dramatically from decade to decade. This book was written prior to the onslaught of the greed decade and the fresh minting of internet billionaires. Content and objectivity issues arise from the author's apparent distaste for - and thinly veiled attacks of - then president Ronald Reagan. Additional targets are bowlers, high school teachers, and the southern religious. Meanwhile, anything british or 'preppy' is held to be high class and desirable. To wit, the author makes regular reference to 'The Preppy Handbook' as a serious primer for the would-be sophisticate, when in fact it was written and received as a satirical and none too subtle abuse of the preppy dress code and shallow concommitant lifestyle. If the reader is interested in a scholarly, objective, research oriented treatment of the class system in the United States, this is probably not the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Note: Reviewer shares many of author's frustrations
Review: this book makes you hate other people (and yes, i have a sense of humor).
Rating: 
Summary: Do You Measure Up? Does It Matter?
Review: This is a sardonic, slightly dyspeptic view of social stratification. Taken on one level, it is a way of judging yourself and those around you; on another, it makes broad fun of anyone who does so.
Americans, particularly in the Middle Class, are notoriously insecure about their social standing. Paul Fussell has a field day with this, pointing out that the rich are as boring and emptyheaded as the people they despise, perhaps more. For every lout in a gimme cap and a wifebeater, there is some poor zhlub who is genuinely worried that his new Mercedes-Benz isn't ritzy enough. Fussell has a great laugh at all social classes, and in fact no one is safe from his wit.
But, finally, at the end, for those who feel that no one can have any real respectability, he proposes the "X" class, made up of talented people who don't care what class they look like, they just do what they will.
So, if you are looking for a clever analysis of the modern neurosis of social-climbing, pick up this book...who knows? Maybe you will find yourself in it!
Rating: 
Summary: Yikes! Why Am I so Judgemental....
Review: I promise you after reading this book you will notice a lot more of the people surrounding. I beign to judge people more on their apparents and taste. Which is a bad thing...however do promise me that you will read this enchanting little book. It really gives me a insightful look at the American society. Always try to read a variety of books because it will help you in one way or another.
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Summary: A classless society?
Review: If you've ever thought that America is a classless society (a phrase I remember John Major touting as his hoped-for image of Britain), reading this small book may make you change your mind. Classlessness is no more true in American than it is (or was, or quite probably, ever will be) in Britain. Fussell breaks the class system in America into categories beyond the common demarcations: Top out-of-sight
Upper
Upper Middle
---
Middle
High proletarian
Mid-proletarian
Low proletarian ---
Destitute
Bottom out-of-sight Fussel argues that the true aspiration of much of American society is not to be upper class, but rather upper middle class, for this is where the balance of reward and responsibility is most evenly distributed toward leading 'the good life'. American class systems are defined differently often by the class in which one finds oneself. 'At the bottom, people tend to believe that class is defined by the amount of money you have. In the middle, people grant that money has something to do with it, but think education and the kind of work you do almost equally important. Nearer the top, people perceive that taste, values, ideas, style and behaviour are indispensable criteria of class, regardless of money or occupation or education.' This book will tell you how to evaluate your class ranking by many means, including where you went to school, what stores you shop in, where you holiday (or vacation), what furnishings are in your home (and how you refer to them: is it a couch or a sofa?), what you eat, etc. There is a handy quiz at the end for self-evaluation (Parquet floor at home, add 8 points; vinyl floor, subtract 6, and so on). There are also interesting parallels drawn: the Top out-of-sight and Bottom out-of-sight classes are similar in many ways; for instance, you cannot find the drive to the house of either (Top because they're well hidden, Bottom because they don't have any), neither class carries cash on one's person, neither tend to possess new-and-shiny anything, etc. Fussell, being a newspaper man, drew parts of this book from columns he had written. He also got mail, and he includes a brief collection of correspondence and answers in the back; one example is: Dear Sir:
My son attends Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, but he insists on putting a Harvard sticker in the rear window of his car. Is this wrong? Signed: Worried Dear Worried:
It is very wrong, but at least it indicates that he's learning something down there. He may go far. For those of you who hope to escape the class system, Fussell provides the exit hatch, in the X way out. 'X' people are better conceived as belonging to a category than a class because you are not born an X person, as you are born and reared a prole or a middle. You become an X person, or, to put it more bluntly, you earn X-personhood by a strenuous effort of discovery in which curiosity and originality are indispensable.' Just as Matthew Arnold observed that some in British classes don't seem to belong to them (but certainly belong to no other), the X category enables a societal recognition to those who do not fit a mold but yet must be categorised (for any class system must categorise). Have fun, prepare to be offended slightly, and see what having an obelisk in your living room really means.
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Summary: Life's Lottery
Review: I was required to purchase and review this book as part of a Community College English Class. It is probably safe to say that the majority of those attending a "Community College" are middle class. Most of us are in school hoping to better our lot in life by getting an education. If Fussell is to be believed, we are wasting our time. According to Fussell, we are stuck where we are and any attempt to improve ourselves belies our middle class angst and insecurity. It is plain to see that Fussell believes that your upbringing determines your place in the American caste system, and as such, is largely out of our hands. You either win "life's lottery" or you don't. If our class in America is determined by our birth and upbringing (essentially how we made out in "life's lottery"), then Fussell's book has no value. The most we can hope for is to be properly equipped to masquerade as a member of a different caste for a short while. Adding insult to injury, we are asked to believe that WASP culture is superior to any other in America, and thus we should aspire to emulate it in every facet of our lives. Fussell's empty purpose and ethnocentric tone combine for the one-two punch that kills the book for me.
In order to follow this "guide" you must buy into the underlying premise of the superiority of WASP (British) culture. If you are unwilling to do so, then you are (according to Fussell) doomed to a life with the low-people. In order to follow this "guide" you must not be an overly religious person, for if you are religious, you are automatically knocked down a peg or two on the class ladder. In order to follow this "guide" you must lose weight, have most of your chin removed, and not move about too much. If you can't pull this one off, there's no point in going any further. Uppers will know you by your "prole" chin, your ample bottom, or your wild gestures. In order to follow this "guide" you must lose all sense of yourself. Anything that would make you at all interesting has got to go. Practicing saying "pah - jahhhh - mahs," drop the "h" in front of "'ouse," and never say "the cook," she is simply "cook." In order to follow this "guide" you must look down on technology (though you will not know too much about it) and social climbers, of which you are now one. This will set up a sort of self-loathing scenario for you, but never mind, you are climbing the social ladder. In order to follow this "guide" you must constantly be aware of how you present yourself to the outside world. The presumption is that if you are reading this "guide," you need help to get ahead. There is a lot to remember. You can try practicing in front of a mirror. In order to follow this "guide" you must buy into the belief that you are superior to those around you and that your upbringing determines your lot in life. The problem is, once you believe that, this book is completely useless.
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Summary: Read "Class" by Jilly Cooper first.
Review: Having read several of Fussell's other books, I wondered why this is the only one that is entertaining (the man is both a misanthrope and a bit of a whiner). Then I stumbled upon "Class" by Jilly Cooper, which provides a highly amusing view of the British class system, and realized that Fussell had modeled his book on hers. That's not to say that it's a rip-off. In fact, Fussell's genius lies in his having recognized a great concept and modified it for the American market. Additionally, he specifically credits Cooper at several points in his book. Having grown up in a middle-class family in Pomona, California, Fussell does not have an intuitive understanding of Northeastern snobbery, which may account for some of the weaknesses in this book. Far better in that regard are "Old Money" by Nelson Aldrich or several books on the subject by Lewis Lapham, both of whom grew up in wealthy families. Perhaps the greatest weakness in the book is Fussell's description of Class X as the ideal class. The people he describes so favorably, including himself, appear to be little more than Aging Hippies, frozen in time.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book!
Review: If you think that this book is dated, you should remember that it was written in 1983! Otherwise, this book is a wonderfully written guide to the social classes of America. I believe that it is mainly centered on the middles, however the middles constitute the most widely recognized class, so this is excusable. Very funny, but if you take things too seriously (middle class) then you may find this book slightly offensive. A great read!
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, But Inaccurate and Dated
Review: A slightly amusing book, which comes across as dated and rather poorly researched. Fussell twists himself (and his sources) into contradiction at some points, and on the whole it's a pretty amateur effort: don't read this expecting any sort of sociological rigour. Interesting, but I'm pretty disappointed: this was not nearly as good as I expected from reading other reviews. It's a little sparse on any real information, and a whirlwind tour of stereotypical class differences rather than a substantial treatment of the subject.
Rating:
Summary: watch the microsurgical comic exploration unfold
Review: here's a hint to those upset by Fussell's "coldness" or negativity toward middles & proles - Fussell is a humorist AND lay-sociologist. He is not being mean-spirited. He lays into every caste with equal joyful criticism.If you think he is mean, you simply do not understand his sense of humor. Alsot, to those who believe that Category X has anything to do with Coupland's "Generation X" or Brooks's Bobos, you are dead wrong. Category X is not generational, AND it is not populated by the shrill, self-indulgent materialists lambasted in Brooks's "Bobos in Paradise."
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