In America there isn't supposed to be a class structure because there's no real aristocracy in the usual form. In America everybody is supposed to be considered equal in their identity and basic rights while allowing for vast differences in economic and social status. But in reality America is more classist than many other countries because it has much cultural diversity and so many 'unassimilated' people. The urge to divide people into arbitrary class distinctions seems very established. Our politicians talk all the time about class, as if it really was something inherent. Outside of politics as such, various 'worlds' such as art world, academic-world, business-world are structured on extreme notions of class. All of the worst attributes of aristocracy flourish in those worlds. What could be more stilted in that respect than the art-world with its many gradations of position, snobbery, elitism, and other degrading habits?
Artists frequently succumb to the classist views of the society at large. They can be worse classist snobs than one might expect. Yet they presume to be egalitarian. wc
