Class can't be dismissed; before we can solve class problems, we have to recognize they exist.

• Author: Fallows, James
• Position: "The Imperial Middle: Why Americans Can't Think About Class"

James Fallows is Washington editor of the Atlantic and a contributing editor of the Washington Monthly.

* The Imperial Middle: Why Americans Can't Think Straight About Class. Benjamin DeMott. Morrow, $18.95.

Before we can solve class problems, we have to recognize they exist

What is good and brave about this book deserves notice, despite the parts that are exasperating and overdone. DeMott's main argument is that class differences and class barriers are a central reality of American life-but that we find ways to pretend they don't exist, creating a class system that is even crueler and more demoralizing than it would otherwise be. When people discuss each others' backgrounds-"And where do your children go to school?" "We know them from 'the country' -or even use terms like "preppie" or "bridge-and-tunnel crowd," they are, DeMott says, clearly talking about distinct American classes. But, as he devotes most of the book to demonstrating, our politics and pop culture make these look like some other kind of division--especially of taste and broad-mindedness. The "Living" section of The New York Times is in reality directed at those with the money to throw around on antiques and second homes, but it acts as if the audience were defined merely by good taste: Some people appreciate the Hamptons, some prefer mobile homes. When George Bush advertises the fact that he eats pork rinds and listens to Loretta Lynn, the message is that there really isn't any difference between this And-over-educated senator's son and the average working guy. Professional-class Americans imagine "rednecks" to be jingoistic and bigoted-after all, look who's doing most of the flag-waving and cheering at Support Our Troops rallies. DeMott says that the working class was forced into bearing the burden of the Vietnam war, and is giving a natural response: "You call us working stiff types, says the talkback message. You chuckle at vulgar slobbish stupid macho jingos. But tell us this, draft boards and recruiters and admen: Who made the jingo? Who made the patriot into the man of hate 9 Drowning in class

The strongest part of this analysis, I think, is DeMott's discussion of schools. Viewed coldly, the school system is obviously the main transmission belt of American class standing. Public schools are increasingly segregated by neighborhood, which means by income and class. Parents with money increasingly buy their way out of the public schools altogether. The more money your...