Class and Status

Two articles from the NY Times:

• ‘But I Neeeeeed It!’ She Suggested: How teen-agers pester their parents for the latest must-have gadget (iPod, cell phone, etc.)

• Class Matters: When the Joneses Wear Jeans:  Now that makers of luxury goods are introducing lower-end models, the quest for status is becoming more characterized by the consumption of personal services — nannies, expensive haircuts, and so on.

A family in our parish is "comfortable" (read: wealthy).   Both parents are Ivy Leaguers, and their children are at, or graduated from, elite schools and colleges.  Yet they live in a very modest, even cramped, townhouse.  They drive very middle-class cars.   They do their part, and then some, in the outreach- and mission work of the parish.  They don’t talk about money, but the word on the street is that they give a large portion of their annual income to charity.  Now that’s status.