Book Review: Fussell on Class

What the author calls Upper Class I would call "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" or WASP. It doesn't really seem like they are exactly above other classes of people in the US today, however. Not politically, financially, or culturally, they are not entirely on top.

Well, as the review would say, they simply are, and they don't care where you place them, as that would imply they have something to prove.

It does make Upper Class the wrong word for them however.

> What the author calls Upper Class I would call "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" or WASP

I haven't read the book, just this review of it. But the review says:

> The upper class is old money. The people you think of as rich and famous - tech billionaires, celebrities, whatever - aren't upper class. However privileged they started off, they still had to put in at least a smidgeon of work to get their money, which disqualifies them. Real uppers inherit.

By that definition, the vast majority of "WASP" people are not "Upper Class". The "Upper Class" in the US would be heavily "WASP", but I would expect it is gradually becoming somewhat more diverse.

There are plenty of old-money Catholics (e.g. Kennedys), old-money non-U.K. protestants, old-money Jews, etc. I suppose the WASP old-money stereotype was accurate because it was the biggest chunk once upon a time, but not for a very very long time.