According to Paul Fussell and his essay, class is a “touchy subject.” The class is often referred to as "any group of plants or animals". However, when it comes to defining class as a social distinction, the word becomes more complex. The social class structure has remained “murky” over the years and, for most Americans, extremely complicated. In today's society, class has become increasingly complex, but it has never been defined in a way that makes Americans feel comfortable in their own skin. Today, when we talk about social class, people tend to get upset about it. They tend to “straighten their ties first and glance at their wrists to see how far the fraying has progressed.” In RH Tawney's book, Equality, the word "class" is loaded with unpleasant associations, so that dwelling on it is likely to be interpreted as a symptom of a perverse mind and a jaundiced spirit. » However, some go so far as to call class thinking "America's forbidden thought." Since the Industrial Revolution, social classes have been fixed with names that distinguish one social class from another. For example, names that have stuck with Americans today are lower class, middle class, upper class, working class, etc. Yet when the “touchy subject” comes up, the way a person acts, through the degree of anger or aggravation, says a lot about their social class. A tendency that middle-class people tend to show when asked about the subject is to feel very anxious and nervous, suggesting that they might "go down a rung or two." On the contrary, upper-class individuals liked to be asked about their social class because they like to flaunt it. “The more attention we give them, the better they seem to be.” » Prole......middle of paper......has a very prestigious but poorly paid job. Their prestige places them in a higher class but their income places them in another. In America, more people are becoming more educated, able to earn more money and occupy more prestigious positions. Prestigious locations are the other factor that, besides a higher level of education and a comfortable income, encourages an individual to identify with a specific social class. This helps give lower social classes hope to improve and work a little harder so they aren't hanging by a thread or two and preparing to fall back into the lowest social class. Social class remains a delicate subject, but still very “troubled”. Society has difficulty integrating because it does not know where to go. If we actually abolished social classes, would we be better off in the future?