"Without a change in course," Holly Sklar writes, "the gulf between the rich and the rest of America will continue to widen, weakening our economy and our democracy. The American Dream will be history instead of poverty."1 With the advent of more billions into the ranks of the Fortune 400, so it is; instead of witnessing the booming middle class that marked the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions, America is undergoing a transformation that more clearly limns the demarcation between classes than ever before.2 With economic segregation an ever more encroaching reality, the distinctions between race, age, and gender come increased under review as Americans are forced to examine the origins of social class, its solidification in early childhood, and its place in the national life.

             In academic circles, social class describes the relationships between individual agents and groups as they struggle through social hierarchies. Weber famously defined the social stratification as a three-component theory frequently adopted my sociocultural scientists. Weber viewed class as the composite of three distinct elements, the economic relationship of an individual to the market, his or her status in regards to non-economic capital like educational attainment, and political affiliation. By strict construct, he assumes these factors are unrelated, but inevitably, they play an important and intrinsic role in defining each other; for example, the educational levels of the elite extend beyond the free education provided by the government; without the financial ability to afford it, it is out of one's reach.

             The glass ceiling that pervades American life defines not only one's education, but all of the aspects of one's place in, relation to, and understanding of social class. In the capitalist marketplace, these correlations are more exaggerated and play a more defining role in everyday life.