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Imagine this situation... a single mother has just divorced her abusive middle-class husband. Her previous life had been comfortable; she now lives with her two children, working as a waitress while spending what little free time she has going to night school on top of the responsibilities of attending to her home and family. She finally ends up graduating with good grades, yet can still not find a job that pays higher than her job at the restaurant, so she takes on a second job as a grocery checkout person, still barely able to make ends meet for her family. This woman has undoubtedly worked very hard to return her life back to the middle-class state it was before her divorce. She is just one of the many that has learned the hard way that class is not easy at all to move up in this place we fondly call the “land of opportunity.” The United States is the most highly stratified society of the industrialized world. Class distinctions are present in virtually every aspect of our lives. Class determines the place a person will work, the amount or quality of their education, and the health of the people we love. However it seems as though nearly everyone living in this nation has illusions about living in t