Class Hole

This week in American Studies we have been discussing the issues of social class, especially what class is like on the North Shore. One thing that I found particularly interesting was when we were talking about the North Shore, and people who lived in it, it was hard for them to categorize themselves into a class. The choices were "Upper, Middle, and Lower". About 1/4 of the class  chose that they were middle class.
When you look around the North Shore, it seems pretty clear that it is an upper class neighborhood. The houses are large, the neighborhoods are beautiful, it seems obvious. However, for people that live here, it is harder to see. Personally when I think of Upper class citizens, I picture the East Coast, sprawling mansions, private planes etc. I certainly don't see myself in that category. But in relation to the rest of the country, we are. We discussed in class that the factors leading into social class are occupation, education, income, and wealth. These can be hard to determine from just looking at a neighborhood, but when you look at the North Shore in relation to those statistics, it becomes pretty well known that it is indeed an upper class neighborhood. In fact, Forbes.com rated Kenilworth, IL, the 2nd most affluent neighborhood in the country. You can read the article here.
While the North Shore is in no means composed of entirely upper class citizens, it is easy to argue that majority of the people living there are. It is in some ways a Class Hole, it lacks class diversity.