Class as a Social Construct in America

Today, I came across a video on YouTube called Le poids des apparences, or the Importance of Appearance. In the video, a man wearing worn and baggy clothes falls and asks for help from many people, but nobody comes to his aid. The same man then dresses in very dressy clothing, and falls in the same location, but doesn't even need to ask for help due to the people who are rushing to ask if he is okay. It's so interesting to see that appearances can dictate whether we, as human beings, help someone or not.

Sure, the Bystander Effect comes into play, but the fact that not one person even helped him in the first instance is sad; for all we know he could have been truly dying and in need of help from professionals. Is that what it has truly come to? That if someone looks more put together and important than another, we automatically help the one person and ignore the other?

This video really made me realize that society makes some people seem more important than others, as celebrities and those who are extremely wealthy are put on such a high pedestal, while others are forgotten, but are some human beings truly more important than others? It's sad that the only thing stopping people from helping someone out, and potentially saving their life, is how someone looks.

Update: After learning more about class as a social construct in America, I can see where that ties into this story as well. This nicely dressed man seems to be of a much higher class than the man with the torn clothes and ragged appearance, which shows that most people really look up to the higher class and almost pity the lower class, as you can see by the people's faces who walk by the poorer looking man. This shows just how much your class in America affects how you're treated by others, and I find it sad that just because someone may have more money than another person they are valued more in society.