Being towards death

A Panorama Analysis of Current Social Classes#

Everyone lives in society, but most people have never truly understood it. Some enter large companies right after graduation, while others send out 100 resumes but hear nothing back; some have family help to buy a house, while others save for ten years for a down payment but still can't keep up with housing prices; some easily earn a million a year, while others work 996 overtime just to make ends meet. Why do different people have such vastly different lives, work, and destinies? To truly understand this issue, one must have a basic understanding of social classes.

What does society really look like? How does it operate? This question seems simple, yet few can answer it, but it constantly influences everyone's fate. This question should be the first lesson for everyone entering society, but unfortunately, no one teaches it:

• Schools won't teach it; textbooks only say "everyone is equal" without telling you that resource distribution is vastly different;
• Parents don't understand how to teach it; the previous generation was swept along by the tide and many didn't have time to see the rules of society clearly;
• Society dares not teach it, because vested interests hope the lower classes remain complacent and never think too much.

Because only those who can see the rules can find the breakthrough points in life.

I. The Essence of Social Class Structure: A Nine-Layer Four-Dimensional Pyramid#

Current society presents a typical pyramid structure, built on three core elements: power, wealth, and intelligence. It can be vertically divided into nine major classes and horizontally categorized into four dimensions: officials, business, labor, and agriculture. This structure reflects both the path dependence of historical evolution and the integration of market economy and institutional characteristics.

Vertical — Nine Major Classes#

• Upper Class (Levels 1-3): A very small number of people who control the lifeblood of society
• Middle Class (Levels 4-6): Wealthy urban populations, middle-income groups
• Lower Class (Levels 7-9): Barely making ends meet, with zero risk resistance

Horizontal — Four Major Groups#

Regardless of the level, one cannot escape these four identities:

• Officials (power system)
• Business (capital system)
• Labor (intellectual or manual workers)
• Agriculture (lower class under urban-rural differentiation)

II. Vertical Analysis: Nine Major Classes#

From a vertical perspective, society can be divided into nine major classes, with the logic of class division being the chain of domination of "power — capital — labor."

1. Upper Society (Levels 1-3): Absolute controllers of power and capital
   The core characteristic of this class: power and capital are highly concentrated, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to enter, relying on intergenerational transmission or special opportunities.

2. Middle Society (Levels 4-6): A competitive arena for professional ability and local resources

   • Level 4 (Elite Ceiling): Famous professionals, medium-sized business owners, core executives of large enterprises; the limit of ordinary people's struggle, requiring support from upper-class connections.
   • Level 5 (Stable Middle Class): Small and medium-sized business owners, middle-level professional managers, professors, multiple property owners, well-known professionals; they have careers but narrow upward mobility.
   • Level 6 (Knowledge Workers): Small business owners, potential white-collar workers, young university teachers; reliant on education but facing severe competition. Core characteristic: primarily intellectual labor, fierce competition, with Level 4 being the "glass ceiling" and Levels 5-6 easily falling into "middle-class anxiety." One can break into Level 4 through education, skills, and connections, but competition in Levels 5-6 is brutal, and a slight misstep can lead to a fall.

3. Lower Society (Levels 7-9): Survival pressure and mobility traps

   • Level 7 (Urban Marginal Groups): Ordinary clerks, regular employees, small individual businesses, affluent farmers; barely standing firm but with no asset accumulation.
   • Level 8 (Manual Laborers): Outsourced personnel, lower-level workers, ordinary farmers; can only maintain basic living standards, with extremely low risk resistance.
   • Level 9 (Social Bottom): Unemployed individuals, low-income employees, remote poor farmers; unable to meet basic living needs. Core characteristic: primarily engaged in manual labor, with easy internal mobility (e.g., from Level 7 to 8), but crossing into the middle class requires breaking through systemic barriers.

III. Horizontal Analysis: Four Dimensions of Officials, Business, Labor, and Agriculture#

1. Officials (Power System): This part is omitted.

2. Business (Capital System)

   • Upper Class: Billionaire business owners (Level 3) closely tied to policies.
   • Middle Class: Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs (Levels 4-5) rely on a balance of market and policy.
   • Lower Class: Individual businesses (Level 7) face significant survival pressure and are easily impacted by economic fluctuations.

3. Labor (Intellectual/Manual Labor)

   • Middle Class: Senior technicians, professional managers (Levels 4-6) exchange knowledge for compensation.
   • Lower Class: Workers (Levels 7-8) trapped in a "low skill — low income" cycle.

4. Agriculture (Land and Labor)

   • Only existing in the lower class: affluent farmers (Level 7) and poor farmers (Levels 8-9) show clear differentiation, reflecting the imbalance in urban-rural resource distribution. "Agriculture" completely disappears in the upper and middle classes, and the urban-rural gap is hard to bridge; "labor" must transform to reach the middle class, while pure laborers are forever stuck below Level 6.

IV. Social Mobility and Structural Contradictions#

1. Upward Mobility Channels

   • Education: Level 6 (college graduates) → Level 4 (elites) is the main path, but the devaluation of prestigious degrees intensifies competition.
   • Capital Accumulation: Level 5 (small business owners) → Level 3 requires a hundredfold capital leap, relying on policy dividends or risk speculation.
   • Promotion within the System: Level 6 → Level 4 requires connections and opportunities, with 90% stopping at the exam.

2. Downward Risks

   • The middle class (Levels 5-6) can easily slide down to Level 7 due to unemployment, illness, or economic crises.
   • The lower class (Levels 7-8) has weak risk resistance; a major illness or unemployment can plunge them into Level 9.

3. Structural Dilemmas

   • Power Solidification: The upper class (Levels 1-3) is extremely closed off, with capital and power mutually reinforcing.
   • Middle Class Shrinking: Levels 4-6 are squeezed by high housing prices and education/healthcare costs, with some sliding into the "new poor."
   • Large Lower Class: Levels 7-9 account for over 60% (according to urban-rural income data), but "poverty alleviation" from Level 8 to 7 is easy, while "leaping" from Level 7 to 6 is difficult.

V. Laws of Class Mobility#

• Easy Mobility (Within the Lower Class)

  • Level 9 → Level 8: Poverty alleviation or moving to the city for work can achieve this.
  • Level 8 → Level 7: Learning a skill (like operating an excavator) can raise monthly salary from 3000 to 8000.

• Difficult Transitions (Key Thresholds)

  • Level 7 → Level 6: Requires education + entry into the system/large companies, with an elimination rate exceeding 80%.
  • Level 5 → Level 4: Requires capital accumulation of millions or upper-class connections, with the probability for ordinary people being <1%.
  • Level 3 → Level 2: Non-blood or mentor-student relationships are almost impossible.

VI. Future Trends: From Pyramid to Spindle Shape?#

1. Optimistic Signals

   • The population of Level 8 (ordinary farmers) is decreasing, and urbanization is pushing some groups into Level 7.
   • The digital economy is creating new professions (like internet celebrities, freelancers), providing non-traditional upward paths for Level 6.

2. Pessimistic Challenges

   • The alliance of power and capital exacerbates the monopoly of the upper and middle classes.
   • Educational competition further narrows the channel from Level 6 to 4, with "lying flat" culture spreading.

VII. Coping Strategies#

• If at Levels 7-9: Learn scarce skills (like elderly care/postpartum care, new energy maintenance) to avoid low-end competition.
• If at Levels 4-6: Accumulate quality assets (core properties, hard skills) to prevent downward class mobility.
• If aiming for Level 4+: Seize policy opportunities (like AI, carbon neutrality) and bind with power or capital.

VIII. One Last Thing#

The essence of the nine-class system is a "limited mobility society dominated by power and capital": the upper class (Levels 1-3) takes the largest share of the cake, the middle class (Levels 4-6) struggles in stock competition, and the lower class (Levels 7-9) hovers above the line of subsistence. Social stratification has never disappeared; it has just become more concealed. Those who see the rules may not necessarily win; but those who cannot see them are doomed to lose.