"You want to ask me about class and status? Is that it?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"You Opinioners are always asking about class and status. One would think you'd know all about it by now. But very well. Today, since everyone is equal, there is only one class. The middle class. The only question then is—to what portion of the middle class does one belong? High, low, or middle?"
"And how is that determined?"
"Why, by all sorts of things. The way a person speaks, eats, dresses, the way he acts in public. His manners. His clothing. You can always tell your upper middle class man by his clothes. It's quite unmistakable."
"I see. And the lower middle classes?"
"Well, for one thing they lack creative energy. They wear ready-made clothing, for example, without taking the trouble to improve upon it. The same goes for their homes. Mere uninspired adornment won't do, let me add. That's simply the mark of the nouveau upper middle class. One doesn't receive such persons in the home."
"Thank you, Citizen Gotthreid. And where would you classify yourself statuswise?"
(With the very faintest hesitation). "Oh, I've never thought much about it—upper middle, I suppose."