One thing I noticed during the years I lived in the USA was how unaware people seem to be of social class. In older societies, everyone is aware of their class from a very young age, but in America they seem to pretend that class doesn't exist there (or at least the lower classes seem blissfully unaware, and thus unable to voice it - to their own detriment).
I see it a lot in American racism as well. Everyone pretends that racism in America is just that, when it's actually classism born of racist roots (which is different enough that it requires a very different solution). Even the phrase "white trash" betrays the classim, whereby otherwise "white" (middle to high class) people are relegated to the lower ("black", "hispanic") classes (other terms like "white slavery" are also of a similar turn). And since it's extremely difficult to escape your class (as the author has discovered), the system is self-perpetuating.
I see it a lot in American racism as well. Everyone pretends that racism in America is just that, when it's actually classism born of racist roots (which is different enough that it requires a very different solution). Even the phrase "white trash" betrays the classim, whereby otherwise "white" (middle to high class) people are relegated to the lower ("black", "hispanic") classes (other terms like "white slavery" are also of a similar turn). And since it's extremely difficult to escape your class (as the author has discovered), the system is self-perpetuating.