Upper class | sociology (2024)

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History provides a chronological, statistical, and cultural record of the events, people, and movements that have made an impact on humankind and the world at large throughout the ages.","image":{"id":0,"url":"/05/84505-050-8BB58BE6/cave-art-Ennedi-Plateau-Chad.jpg","altText":"World History","credit":null,"width":null,"height":null,"fullUrl":"https://cdn.britannica.com/05/84505-050-8BB58BE6/cave-art-Ennedi-Plateau-Chad.jpg"}},"typeDisplayName":"List"},{"id":12712,"title":"How Many Countries Are There in the World?","url":"/story/how-many-countries-are-there-in-the-world","description":"Find out how many countries there are.","image":{"id":0,"url":"/27/238527-131-D73B3F08/flagpoles-world-countries.jpg","altText":"Flags of the countries of the world (flagpoles).","credit":"© Marcel Schauer/stock.adobe.com","width":null,"height":null,"fullUrl":"https://cdn.britannica.com/27/238527-131-D73B3F08/flagpoles-world-countries.jpg"},"type":"STORY","breadcrumb":{"homeLink":null,"items":[{"title":"Companion","url":"/stories/companion"},{"title":"Geography & Travel","url":"/stories/companion/Geography-Travel"}],"lastItemTitle":"Geography & Travel"},"superCategory":{"id":4,"title":"Geography & Travel","url":"Geography-Travel","description":"Explore geography and travel; geographic regions; historical places; people of the world; countries, states, provinces, cities, and towns; languages; deserts, islands, mountains, plateaus; lakes, oceans, seas, rivers; national parks, tourist attractions","keywords":"geographic regions; historical places; people of the world; countries, states, provinces, cities, and towns; languages; deserts, islands, mountains, plateaus; lakes, oceans, seas, rivers; national parks, tourist attractions ","classId":"GEOGRAPHY","sortOrder":5},"hashtags":["companion","countries","world countries","united nations","Britannica","Encyclopedia Britannica","Encyclopaedia Britannica"],"hashtagsString":"companion, countries, world countries, united nations, Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica","displayDate":[2022,12,28],"urlTitle":"how-many-countries-are-there-in-the-world","featureSubType":"COMPANION","categories":[{"id":5000,"title":"Geography & Travel","url":"Geography-Travel","description":"Planet Earth contains some extraordinarily diverse environments, some of which are easily habitable and some not so much. In different areas of Earth, one might find sweltering deserts, dense tropical rainforests, or bone-chilling tundras. Each biome and habitat comes with its own selection of flora and fauna, and it may include physical features such as canyons, volcanoes, rivers, or caves. Human beings have built homes in many different environments, settling the area and organizing it into units such as cities, states, regions, and countries, each with its own points of interest. Shifting trends in human migration have resulted in a human geography that is profoundly different from that of centuries ago.","image":{"id":0,"url":"/17/2317-050-758D0E55/World-map-descriptions-Herodotus-Black-Sea.jpg","altText":"Geography & Travel","credit":null,"width":null,"height":null,"fullUrl":"https://cdn.britannica.com/17/2317-050-758D0E55/World-map-descriptions-Herodotus-Black-Sea.jpg"}},null,null],"mainCategory":{"id":5000,"title":"Geography & Travel","url":"Geography-Travel","description":"Planet Earth contains some extraordinarily diverse environments, some of which are easily habitable and some not so much. In different areas of Earth, one might find sweltering deserts, dense tropical rainforests, or bone-chilling tundras. Each biome and habitat comes with its own selection of flora and fauna, and it may include physical features such as canyons, volcanoes, rivers, or caves. Human beings have built homes in many different environments, settling the area and organizing it into units such as cities, states, regions, and countries, each with its own points of interest. Shifting trends in human migration have resulted in a human geography that is profoundly different from that of centuries ago.","image":{"id":0,"url":"/17/2317-050-758D0E55/World-map-descriptions-Herodotus-Black-Sea.jpg","altText":"Geography & Travel","credit":null,"width":null,"height":null,"fullUrl":"https://cdn.britannica.com/17/2317-050-758D0E55/World-map-descriptions-Herodotus-Black-Sea.jpg"}},"typeDisplayName":"Companion"}]},"byline":null,"citationInfo":null,"websites":null,"freeTopicReason":"TOPIC_IS_INDEX_PAGE","articleSchemaMarkup":{"keywords":"upper class","wordcount":0,"url":"https://www.britannica.com/topic/upper-class","description":"Other articles where upper class is discussed: luxury: Economic aspect: …toward the luxurious expenditure of the rich is a mixture of envy—sometimes accompanied by, but often devoid of, a feeling of resentment—and of approval based on popular economic reasoning. It is a very widespread belief that such expenditure is good for trade because it makes money circulate and therefore increases…","publisher":{"logo":{"url":"https://corporate.britannica.com/wp-content/themes/eb-corporate/_img/logo.png","@type":"ImageObject"},"name":"Encyclopedia Britannica","@type":"Organization"},"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"article"},"studentArticle":false,"initialLoad":true,"moneyRedirectedArticle":false}