3rd Quarter Blog

Friday, April 29, 2011

The Royal Wedding

Since we've been talking about social classes in class this past week, I thought I could relate it to an event that  has been dominating the news recently: the royal wedding. I think most people would agree that Prince William is at the very top of the upper class. A combination of tramendous wealth, social capital, education, and a respected career in the military as well as being a royal put him on the top of anyone's list as someone who rules the class system.

In class the other day we were also talking about how the American class system differs from that of other countries, especially England where the social classes are deeply rooted in history and very hard to change. So, are England's social classes becoming less prevalent, demonstrated by Prince William's choice of bride? Kate Middleton does not belong to the lower classes no matter how you look at it, but she is definitely not on the same level as the Prince. She does not have royal blood and comes from a much more low-profile family. The same is true for William's father, Prince Charles, who also married a "commoner".

So, could it be that England is just modernizing it's social class to be defined more on looks and the way one acts instead of family background and titles, or could the social class system be falling apart slowly all together?




1 comment:

  1. I do not believe that the social class system is falling apart all together. In fact, I think the incredible extravagance of the royal wedding is proof of the upper class's extraordinary wealth.
    However, I do believe that social class in England is slightly 'modernizing', wherein the lucky few could more easily change class. However, we must remember that there aren't many people that have the opportunity to marry the Prince of England.

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