People Like Us: Social Class in America tackles a question rarely addressed so explicitly in the popular media: Are all Americans created equal – or are some more equal than others? Over the course of two hours, the documentary reveals that despite our country's deeply-held ideals of egalitarianism and fairness, our citizens are in fact subject to sharp class distinctions and often insurmountable inequalities of opportunity.

For viewers and students interested in the sociology and culture of the United States, People Like Us provides an entertaining introduction to a controversial topic. It does not offer a Marxian analysis of one group's exploitation of another, nor does it celebrate the virtues of the capitalist system. Rather, this popular history presents an outspoken group of Americans from diverse locales and even more diverse socioeconomic groups: privileged New York "WASPS," upwardly mobile African Americans in North Carolina, struggling minimum-wage workers in Ohio, proud Georgia "rednecks," blue-collar suburbanites in New Jersey, cliquey Texas high-school students, and more. Through their portraits, People Like Us raises questions about the ways, large and small, in which Americans classify each other, how our inherited social class affects our self-perceptions and our expectations, and how race and other factors complicate an already complex arrangement of social distinctions in our society.

Producers Andrew Kolker and Louis Alvarez, who have collaborated on a series of award-winning documentaries on different aspects of American culture since 1979, found People Like Us to be an extremely challenging program to make. Criss-crossing the country to interview hundreds of Americans, they discovered that many of us take our class status for granted, while many others refuse to admit that class differences exist. In making this program, Alvarez and Kolker hope to challenge viewers to rethink their assumptions about class in America and to examine how those assumptions influence their attitudes about their fellow citizens.

People Like Us premiered on the Public Broadcasting System and is intended for a general audience. It is also extremely useful for educators who wish to introduce students to basic concepts about social class and about class distinctions in the United States. People Like Us does not pretend to be the definitive documentary about class in America. But it does aim to be a catalyst for discussion and deeper study about the many different issues of class that affect our country economically, socially, and psychologically.

This guide is intended to facilitate that goal. Our suggestions for discussion questions, lesson plans, group projects, theme-based activities, readings, and writing assignments are designed to help viewers explore, in the context of their own experiences and communities, the many thorny issues raised by People Like Us.

If class time is limited, you can also show specific short segments to the class. In that case, we recommend that you pre-screen the entire show so that you understand where each segment fits into the whole.

[Running Time: 9 minutes]

• People viewing photographs and commenting on the class of the subjects
• Brief introductions to people of various classes

A. Fallen Gentry - an upper-class man who lives in his ancestral home
B. Social Climber - a snooty woman who puts down the middle-class
C. Working Stiff - a blue-collar business owner who criticizes salesmen in suits
D. Social Critic - a high-school teenager who decides who's in, who's out
• A montage of people defining "class"

JOE QUEENAN'S BALSAMIC VINEGAR TOUR (Santa Monica, CA)
[Running Time: 4 minutes, begins 9 1/2 minutes in]
An author and journalist who grew up working-class casts a satirical eye on the consumption patterns of affluent baby-boomers.

THE TROUBLE WITH TOFU (Burlington, VT)
[Running Time: 10 1/2 minutes, begins 13 1/2 minutes in]
A portrait of a community fight over a new supermarket that is, at heart, a mini-class war.

HOW TO MARRY THE RICH (Los Angeles, CA)
[Running Time: 9 minutes, begins 24 minutes in]
Motivational speaker Ginie Sayles discloses her formula for mixing with the upper classes.

WASP LESSONS (Long Island, NY)
[Running Time: 8 minutes, begins 33 minutes in]
Members of the privileged class of Americans known as "WASPs" reveal the tribal markers that help them recognize who truly "belongs."

BOURGEOIS BLUES (Charlotte, NC)
[Running time: 11 minutes, begins 41 minutes in]
Middle class African-Americans offer a perspective on the complicated relationship between race and social class in the United States.

FRIENDS IN LOW PLACES (Baltimore, MD)
[Running Time: 15 1/2 minutes, begins 1 hour 5 1/2 minutes in]
Middle-class people in Baltimore try to recapture the city's vanishing blue-collar lifestyle at a campy street festival and in local bars.

DON'T GET ABOVE YOUR RAISIN' (Morgantown, KY)
[Running time: 12 minutes, begins 1 hour 21 minutes in]
On a trip back to her old, working-class, Kentucky home, Dana Felty, a Washington journalist, discovers how tough it is to belong to two different worlds.

ALL YOU NEED IS CASH (The Hamptons, Long Island, NY)
[Running time: 9 minutes, begins 1 hour 33 minutes in]
The lifestyles of the rich and famous are on display at a lavish party in one of New York State’s most elite communities.

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED (Austin, TX)
[Running time: 17 minutes, begins 1 hour 42 minutes in]
On a guided tour of Austin's Anderson High, we see why school is the perfect place to learn about the harsh realities of class in America.

CLOSING SCENES AND CREDITS
[Running time: 5 minutes]

People Like Us is self-explanatory and requires no introduction. However, students' enjoyment and comprehension of the program can be enhanced through one or more of the following pre-viewing activities:

1. Brainstorm the many interpretations of the word "class."

What is the meaning of "class"?
If necessary, prompt discussion by asking: Is it…

… about social and/or economic position?

… about income?

… about education?

… about prestige?

… about power and control?

… about one's culture?

… about taste and lifestyle, regardless of income?

… about one's race, religion, or ethnicity?

… about one's job?

… about one's self-image and attitude about the world?

Briefly discuss common class terminology: upper class or the rich, middle class or bourgeois or white-collar, working class or blue-collar, the poor or the underclass.

2. Write on the board: The United States of America is a classless and egalitarian society. Do students agree or disagree with that statement? To stimulate thinking, ask them to consider prisons, educational institutions, housing, jobs, wages/salaries, etc. Ask them to reflect on books they've read or movies they've seen that deal with issues of class.
3. Take an anonymous mini-survey. Prepare small slips of paper printed with six class categories: Upper, upper middle, middle, lower middle, lower, poor. Ask students to circle the group to which they think they belong. Collect the slips, to be tabulated after viewing.
4. Encourage viewers to take notes of the many different ways that people in the program define and think about class. If you wish, tell students they will be asked to write a review of the program that incorporates specific quotes and scene descriptions to support their impressions and opinions.

1. Ask students to recall the different ways people in the program define class:

It's all about money; it's not about money; it's morals and upbringing; it's good or bad manners -- knowing how to dress, speak, furnish your home, order food in a restaurant; it's the people you grew up with; race has a lot to do with it; it's an ability to live with servants; it's how big your house is; it's mental -- a state of mind; it's an inherited social position; it's looks and popularity; it's the culture you come from; it's where your daddy works or if your mother came out at the infirmary ball in New York City.

Discuss other observations about class made by the various people who appear in People Like Us.

Compare their definitions with those that your students devised during the pre-viewing activity. What are the similarities or differences? After viewing the program, did any students formulate a new opinion about the meaning of this slippery word? What made them change their mind? Can your group devise a workable definition of "class"? Is there a difference between class, status, and lifestyle?

2. Reconsider the question of whether the United States is a classless, egalitarian society.