What’s at Issue: Italian Social Classes

Social classes

What’s at Issue: Italian Social Classes

Do social classes in Italy exist? You bet they do. Just like in most developed countries, social classes exist whether they perceive so or not. Many people in different countries might believe that there is no separation of people, or that everybody lives equally and together. But those people are fooling themselves. If a person sees someone with less than they do, that person notices that, and inside that person knows that he or she is higher up on the chart if you will.

Although it seems that most all, if not all, countries have social classes, there are arguments as to how these classes are divided and as to who falls under what category. People also argue as to how these classes came about or why nobody puts a stop to them. I hope that after more reading and knowing what others think about the situation, I could hopefully understand the basis of the system of classes in Italy.

One view of the situation is that the only real classes in Italy are immigrants and Italians themselves. There is the distinctive status of race in marking others as outsiders. It seems that even people who are nice and easy-going have started formulating boundaries and lines that mark off who belongs with them and who does not. Examples of these boundaries are class, religion, nationality, ethnicity, and last but certainly not least, race. "http://www.louisville.edu/~mcbell03/annotatedbib.html"Basically, according to this, there are only two classes in Italy: Italians and anybody who is not Italian. Prejudice is the root of the social classes in Italy.