Pineapple Street

Pineapple Street explores class structures in 21st-century America, particularly those at work in the upper echelons of New York City, one of the most expensive cities in the world. Class structures in the United States can be loosely divided into three classes: upper, middle, and lower. However, many people do not neatly fall into one of these three categories, particularly those in the middle class, which encompasses a broad range of incomes and lifestyles. The American class system is a hierarchy based on money. The upper class, people with extreme wealth, make up about 1% of the entire American population. Thus, it is very rare to be extremely wealthy in America. Roughly 50% of Americans fall into the middle class, though this number has been steadily declining since the 1970s. This means that about 50% of Americans are members of the lower class. Thus, to be a member of the elite upper class is to be largely out of touch with the realities that govern the majority of American society.

Because the United States of America is a capitalist system, many Americans are encultured to view socio-economic status as a choice rather than an inevitability. The national mythology of the American Dream claims that with enough hard work, any citizen can achieve any goal in this fabled land of opportunity.