Nouveau Riche - Social Status

Social Status

Social status is defined in relation to wealth, and the power granted by the wealth. Hence, the upper, ruling classes have legitimized “ . . . their rule with claims of status and honor and moral superiority.” Ruling classes make claims in defense of the ascribed superiority of wealth inherited through “blood . . . and the concept of proper breeding.” The Nouveau riche man and woman are juxtaposed against the people of the Old Money social class; and with trans-generational, inherited wealth, in order to highlight the cultural, value system and societal differences, between the two social groups within the class.

Old Family ties, as traditional claims of status, are not found in the nouveaux riches, which challenges and ultimately redefines social traditions and values such as the institution of debutantes and their debut to society. As seen through the rise in the number of debutantes, the social value of the debut has since shifted from the “family’s elite social standing and long family traditions” to “a symbolic value as an element of upper-class life style.” This transition allows for high social standing to be established by the nouveau riche through the institution of the debut. Social integration of these elite sects is extremely slow and sluggish, which prolongs and strengthens stereotypes. This rate of integration makes it more likely that the nouveaux riches will “retain identification with the traditional…group of origin; this is the basis for division between the groups. Furthermore, the isolation that minority nouveaux riches experience within their own class leads them “to prioritize issues of radical justice, civil liberties, and religious tolerance over pure economic self-interest”