When I came to America I expected to leave behind me the need to understand class distinctions.
In a sense that has been true. In England your accent immediately places you within a fabric of class distinctions (unless you are blessed to have been born with or cultivated that nondescript nowhere-in-particular accent beloved of TV hosts). Here my accent does not 'place' me, other than being from England (or occasionally Australia).
But apart from that sense in which class no longer effects the world in which I move, class is still a very present factor. Class in America seems to be every bit as divisive and virulent and all-prevalent as in England. It's just that the definitions are different, and perhaps more complex.
