Social Class in America | Are Social Classes Predetermined | Documentary Drama | 1957

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Are social classes predetermined? This 1957 dramatized vintage documentary aims to discover this question during an era when many American citizens of various races and social classes were still not extended complete civil rights. It is a sociological discussion of ascribed status, achieved status, vertical mobility and horizontal mobility in the United States.

Beginning with shots of newborn babies in a maternity ward, it follows three boys (Dave Benton, a working-class kid; Ted Eastwood, a middle-class boy; and Gil Ames, the son of a factory owner) all the way to adulthood, showing how their destinies are largely determined by the class into which they are born. Right after high-school graduation, Dave Benton gets married, has lots of kids, and winds up working in a gas station. Gil Ames goes to an Ivy League university (where he can meet "men of his own kind") and returns home to take over his father's very profitable business. But the film devotes most of its attention to middle-class Ted Eastwood, who wants to be an artist but can't afford to take the risk of passing up a steady job. Ted grows increasingly frustrated with his boring white-collar bookkeeper job and his limited options. The final straw is when he loses his upper-class girlfriend to Gil. Feeling trapped for life, Ted moves to New York and becomes a commercial artist. The film then shifts into a kind of implicit celebration of upward mobility, American-style. Ted becomes a great success in New York, the great melting pot. In a passage remarkable at once for its delicacy and candor, the narrator remarks: "Class lines are drawn differently in a large city like New York, although they are still there. Here professional standing, power and wealth are of great importance. It is possible for members of socially prominent families, theater people who may have come from the lower class, and successful businessmen of the middle class to mix socially, and Ted is an accepted member of the group." But when Ted returns home to visit his parents, he reverts to his previous status, "still the nice kid from the wrong side of the railroad tracks, no matter how successful he is."

It's a fascinating look at the history of socioeconomic determinism in the United States. "These three babies are equal under the law, but they are not equal in terms of class..." This sociology lesson breaks educational film taboo by speaking directly about social class, shocking the ears with its frankness. It was highly unusual for educational films in this period to openly discuss the limits of mobility in the American society. In a time filled with noises of boom and prosperity, the mass media was generally silent on the subject of ceilings and barriers.

The film mentions that social class also has to do with "nationality, religion and race" but we don’t see anyone other than white Anglo-Saxon Protestant ("WASP") men in this film. Presumably, the children of immigrant parents, non-whites and women were so socially marginalized in the fifties that their social class was negligible in the eyes of the larger society (and the producers of this film).


BACKGROUND / CONTEXT

Social class in the United States is a controversial issue, having many competing definitions, models, and even disagreements over its very existence. Many Americans believe in a simple three-class model that includes the "rich", the "middle class", and the "poor". More complex models feature classes like upper or capitalist class consisting of the rich and powerful, upper middle class consisting of highly educated and affluent professionals, middle class consisting of college-educated individuals employed in white-collar industries, lower middle class composed of semi-professionals with typically some college education, working class constituted by clerical and blue-collar workers whose work is highly routinized, and lower class divided between the working poor and the unemployed underclass. Most definitions of class structure group people according to wealth, income, education, type of occupation, and membership in a specific subculture or social network. Most of the social classes entirely ignore the existence of parallel black, Hispanic and minorities societies.

Social Class in America | Are Social Classes Predetermined | Documentary Drama | 1957

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NOTE: THE VIDEO REPRESENTS HISTORY. SINCE IT WAS PRODUCED DECADES AGO, IT HAS HISTORICAL VALUES AND CAN BE CONSIDERED AS A VALUABLE HISTORICAL DOCUMENT. THE VIDEO HAS BEEN UPLOADED WITH EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. ITS TOPIC IS REPRESENTED WITHIN HISTORICAL CONTEXT. THE VIDEO DOES NOT CONTAIN SENSITIVE SCENES AT ALL!