Social class or stratification describes the community's division into three primary classes; upper, middle, and lower class. According to Gilbert (2017) , Dennis Gilbert and Joseph Kahl's social class model divides society into social classes apart from the three well-known categories. This model comprises six classes: "the capitalist class, the upper-middle class, the lower middle class, the working class, the working poor, and the underclass" ( Gilbert, 2017 ).
Gilbert's and Kahl's model indicates that the capitalist class comprises wealthy capitalists who tend to control the means of production and the economy at large. This group consists of a few persons who impact the country's 'wellbeing' in various ways. First, they own numerous media channels such as newspapers and television stations, and they invest massively in political parties and people in leadership. The advantages of this class include the provision of employment opportunities to millions of people across the globe.
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However, their vast investments in society's significant organs, such as leadership, could lead to extortion of people and discrimination of inferior people. Similarly, the upper-middle class is composed of elites, most of whom are educated. Most people in this category are professionals, government officials, and even managers of organizations in the community. The main advantage of this class is its appreciation and recognition of education. Students would tend to work hard to get 'good' jobs and fall into this class.
The lower middle class comprises individuals who have high school certificates that see them become semi-professionals. The main disadvantage of this class is the inability of persons to acquire managerial jobs or those which need technical skills ( Cottrell, 2019) . On the other hand, the working class involves persons referred to as subordinate employees at the workplace. They are semi-skilled, and one of the biggest disadvantages of this class is that they need training when recruited. Despite this shortcoming, they tend to possess good social skills and interaction mechanisms ( Kincaid, 2016) . According to the model, the working-poor class involves unskilled persons, and therefore, they can only engage in low-paying jobs. The disadvantage of this group is its inability to save money for future use or investment. Lastly, the underclass suffers from social problems such as increased unemployment levels, poverty, and illiteracy. Additionally, this group is often discriminated against at various community levels, workplaces, or government institutions.
References
Cottrell, A. (2019). Social classes in Marxist theory (Vol. 17). Routledge.
Gilbert, D. L. (2017). The American class structure in an age of growing inequality . SAGE publications.
Kincaid, H. (2016). Debating the reality of social classes. Philosophy of the Social Sciences , 46 (2), 189-209.
