Class in America: Law & Order and Matlock

Class is tied to a number of things--and will manifest itself in social orders which appear class-less from the outside as well as social orders that present themselves as class-less. To a large degree, in America, class is tied to education and profession. Education and professional choices are often manifested outwardly.

Law & Order

During a sting operation--to prove that an inspector is taking bribes--lawyer Paul (Richard Brooks) is roped in to play the part of the property owner, a sleezy slumlord. 

He borrows detective Logan's coat.  (Logan has already met the inspector, so he can't play the part.)

Neither man pauses as they exchange coats. It is assumed by both of them that the inspector will never associate a man in Paul's long wool winter coat with "slumlord." But a man wearing Logan's heavy leather coat could be one. One reason is practical. Another reason is appearance.

Interestingly enough, the same point about clothes is made in My Roommate is a Detective. Qiao belongs to a lower class than Lu Yao. They wear quite distinctive clothes, even when hanging out together in the same location. Qiao is more likely to wear heavy, durable leather coats while Lu Yao dresses in relaxed tweeds.  

Matlock

Matlock attends a class reunion at Harvard. He is greeted by his compatriots. Of course, one of them gets murdered and one is suspected, and Matlock defends the one who is suspected. 

Before accepting Matlock's help, the man ruefully admits that he "black-balled" Matlock in college from getting into a prestigious club on campus. When Matlock (who obviously already knows the answer) says, "Why did you do that?" the man replies, "You were older than us."

"I was a lot older than you," Matlock replies. "It took me nine years to work to get up there."

The other man hesitates and then says, "You were different from us, Ben."

Note that Ben's clothes are quite distinct.

Ben raises his brows, then grins and wags his head. 

He was Southern, older, unpolished, at least in speech. He gained the education, and he already had the smarts, and he adopted the profession. 

But the absence of certain things from his background associated with education and profession created class assumptions and distinctions. An ongoing joke of the show, for instance, is that Ben never gives up his Southern gentleman's light-blue suit.

Education and profession are good things and people can earn both. However, the issue here isn't merit. Quite the opposite. Logan and Paul are equally intelligent and hardworking men, and they know it. Matlock is smarter than most of his compatriots and makes just as much money. 

The difference is the sense of difference that people accrue unto themselves. I don't get bribed by that type of person. I don't spend time in a club with that guy. I deserve to be with...and this is how we dress and act and...

It is, to a degree, about self-perception, the life people create about themselves and then enforce: high school cliques, the pack, run amuck. It turns out that Affirmative Action in recent years was largely used NOT to help disadvantaged students--"disadvantaged," that is, by any rational standard. But what people see as their birthright is a different story.

It takes self-knowledge and a strong will not to simply go along with assumed social expectations. In the meantime, the assumptions of others can be used to, say, solve a case.