Complete 2 pages APA formatted article: Social Mobility and Status Attainment. How open is American Society in terms of hierarchy? In an open social system of hierarchy, a person’s status is attainedthrough effort and merit as opposed to ethnicity, religion, gender or family background. The hierarchy in the American Society is open social stratification. In this system, social class is achieved by effort and merit, and there exists substantial social mobility between classes. The mobility comes in the form of education and opportunities. The American Society is divided into three social classes based on socioeconomic conditions namely upper, middle and lower classes. The upper class is made up individuals who own the means of production and by extension the private wealth of the country. The middle class is made up of media celebrities and other professionals such as local politicians, lawyers, doctors among others. The middle class comprises about half of the population. The lower class is made up of individuals who can hardly meet their basic needs. It is mainly made up of minority groups (Giddens et al. 135).