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Shifting Social Classes
Whether you're rich, poor or somewhere in between, every American holds a unique spot on the social class ladder. In April 2006, The Oprah Show tackled this topic for the first time. Back then, the economy was booming and class structure was stable. "People had a solid understanding of where they stood," Oprah says.
Today, things are much different. As the country deals with one of the worst recessions in history and 13 million people face unemployment, social classes are shifting. Many Americans who once considered themselves middle class now feel closer to the bottom.
See how people really perceive social classes. Watch
More than 30 million people are now relying on food stamps, and experts say the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.
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According to The New York Times' Class Matters series and the U.S. Census Bureau statistics from 2000 and 2003, if you make up to $25,000 per year, you are lower class; if you make between $25,000–$70,000, you are middle class; if you make over $70,000 per year, you are upper class.
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After losing her job, Haley says she had to go to the unemployment office for the first time in her life, which proved to be an eye-opening experience.
"I saw people, men in business suits. I saw people who wanted to retire. I saw people with families," she says. "I would have to say, I was ignorant before I went to the unemployment office. I thought people [who] were unemployed were unmotivated, uneducated, and that's not what it is like right now in this world."
Now, Haley says she has a completely different opinion about what it means to be unemployed in America.
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There was a time when Wendy and Martin, a couple from Illinois, were perceived as upper-middle-class Americans…but not anymore. "We've really been hit hard by this recession," Wendy says.
Wendy once owned two successful salons, but in February 2009, she closed the doors for good. These days, she does hair out of her home to pay the bills. The recession also forced her husband, Martin, to close his housing business.
With bills piling up, Wendy and Martin say they can no longer afford to treat their friends to dinner or host lavish parties. Since they dropped to a lower social class, Wendy says the phone doesn't ring as often. "It made me feel so sad just to think that people I would talk to or associate with on a daily basis weren't my friend anymore," she says. "They know the well is dry."
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For 26 years, Ernie Bjorkman was a popular anchorman in the Denver area. During this time, he met presidents, flew on Air Force One and lived a life of celebrity and wealth.
Then, in December 2008, his celebrated career came to a sudden end. Ernie was fired, and his six-digit salary was gone in an instant. When the severance package he was promised fell through, Ernie and his wife, Susan, found themselves facing a financial crisis.
Fortunately, Ernie had been studying veterinary care and got a job at an animal hospital. The bad news? He earns 80 percent less than he used to. "[We're] living like we used to live when we were first married 36 years ago," he says. "[We] get a cheap six-pack of beer and invite friends over to play cards."
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Before Ernie lost his job, Susan never had to worry about having enough money for groceries and basic necessities. Then, she learned a tough lesson the hard way.
One afternoon, Susan says she went to the grocery store with reusable bags and filled them with food.
"I packed all my groceries up and wrote my check and [the clerk] said, 'Sorry, your check's been declined,'" she says. "And I said, 'Oh, no way. There's no way.'"
Susan assumed there had been a mistake and went to a nearby store to do her shopping. After filling another cart, she says she was humiliated for the second time when her check was declined once again. "Our final paycheck had run out, and we didn't realize it," Ernie says. "So as I said, we are now walking the walk of a lot of people in this country."
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For years, Jamie Johnson, the 29-year-old heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, has gone against his family's wishes to expose how superrich families in America really live. In his documentary films and weekly VanityFair.com column, Jamie shows how this exclusive 1 percent thinks, acts and spends.
Don't let their fancy cars and designer clothes fool you. Jamie says the recession continues to send shock waves through the upper class.
"I think there's been an assumption among the rich for the last 25, 30 years that fortunes were only going to grow because that's what's been happening," he says. "This recent crisis really terrified a number of rich people, and they started to think, 'Oh my God, maybe it's not inevitable that I'm going to become richer and richer.
While some wealthy families are terrified about the state of the economy, Jamie says others are secretly pleased. They see this as an opportunity to get even richer.
"They're looking around, and they're saying: 'Wow, we still have a lot of money. Most people don't have any money to invest. Prices of everything are going down. Real estate is cheaper. Stocks are cheaper. Let's make some long-term investments that are going to keep our families rich for several generations into the future,'" Jamie says.
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