In theory it should be a simple matter to determine someone's class by looking at what he/she does to earn a living. Those who work primarily with their hands - making cars, assembling smart phones, constructing buildings, or working in agriculture - would be considered "working class," together with "pink collar workers" -for example, receptionists and secretaries -and those in service industries. Those who own or direct large factories, banks, and businesses would be considered "upper class" or "capitalist class." People working in "white collar" professions such as education, law, medicine, accounting, and management would count as "middle class" (or "upper middle class" if their incomes are particularly high).

 Yet the relationship between professional identity and perceived class status frequently contradicts such neat analyses. Americans often understand class not as a function of the kind of work one does, but as measured by income, particularly in the case of middle-class status. Hence one might have a working-class job-say, in auto manufacturing-but enjoy a middle-class lifestyle, including owning a house and sending one's children to college. In the postwar period, for example, the rise of well-paid union labor created a large working class that enjoyed economic benefits that had previously accrued only to the middle class and above.

 Social and economic shifts in American society continue to complicate the dynamics among income level, consumption, and class status. For example, an independent, experienced journeyman plumber - seemingly a working class occupation - can earn twice as much as a second grade teacher with a master's degree. Who is "more" middle class, the plumber or the teacher? The answer is complex.