在以往，要想正式成为美国“上流社会”的一员，你必须遵循一套明确的准则。

社会学家托斯坦恩•凡勃伦(Thorstein Veblen)在他1899年的经典著作《有闲阶级论》(The Theory of the Leisure Class)中写道，“镀金时代”(Gilded Age，19世纪70年代-90年代)的有钱人指的是那些拥有大量闲暇时间和良好教养的人：“出众的品味、优雅的举止和高尚的生活方式是出身名门的显证，因为良好的教养是需要时间来培养的。”

人文历史学家保罗•福塞尔(Paul Fussell)在1983年出版的讽刺性著作《格调─社会等级与生活品味》(Class: A Guide Through the American Status System)中，为上流社会的准则加入了新内容。他说，与中产阶级和无产阶级不同的是，上流人士穿花呢外套，有贵族式的下巴，厌恶保龄球。福塞尔写道，“如果你想有社会地位，那么千万千万别去玩保龄球。”打台球是可以的，只要你房子里有一间“足够大”的台球室。

甚至连丽莎•比恩巴赫(Lisa Birnbach)在1980年出版的《权威预科生手册》(The Official Preppy Handbook)都成为挤入上流社会的实践指南。去哈佛(Harvard)、普林斯顿(Princeton)或耶鲁大学(Yale)可以接受，但哥伦比亚(Columbia)和康乃尔大学(Cornell)则“差得远了”。

然而在今天，这些上流社会的规则正在分崩离析。原因很简单，有那么多新近发家的百万富翁和亿万富翁，他们来自不同的社会背景，有着不同的生活方式，因此传统的社会地位符号已成为昔日黄花。在苏富比(Sotheby's)的拍卖中，身着牛仔裤比西装革履的人更有可能买下要价4,000万美元的毕加索油画，因为后者可能不过是个艺术品交易商。现在绝大多数最富有的美国人都不是“常春藤联盟”(Ivy League)的毕业生；还有一些人像比尔•盖茨(Bill Gates)那样甚至中途退学。那么凡勃伦所谓的“教养”和“举止”还有吗？参加过地产大亨唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)在佛罗里达州棕榈滩超豪华俱乐部Mar-a-Lago举办的早午餐自助派对的人会告诉你，举止高雅不再是界定富人的标准了。

那什么才是新的准则呢？尽管精英阶层已不再拥有一个统一的行为标准，但今天的有钱人也在遵循一些特定的模式，有时是对传统准则的模仿，有时则有着翻天覆地的变化。

遗产：在凡勃伦时代，遗产继承人比白手起家者拥有更高的社会地位。凡勃伦写道，“被动的从先祖那里继承财富要比靠自己努力发家致富的人更受尊敬。”而福塞尔说，大多数跻身上流社会的人“都是仰仗先祖的家业”。

今天，大多数美国富人都是靠自己的努力获得成功的。财富调查公司Prince & Associate的研究报告称，继承的财产在富翁财产总量中所占比例还不足10%。企业家成为富人圈里新的王者。而遗产继承人则遭到了鄙视，用亿万富翁沃伦•巴菲特(Warren Buffett)的话说，那些人是“幸运精子俱乐部的会员”。

消费：在凡勃伦时代，“炫耀性消费”是上流社会的特征。他写道，社会地位的基础是财富，而财富的证明就是你所能购买的东西。富人能够“随心所欲地为最好的东西一掷千金，不论是食品、饮料、迷幻药、住宅、服务、饰品、衣服、武器和军装都是如此。”挥霍无度是有钱人显示雄厚身家的必须。但到20世纪80年代初，大萧条后的文化冲击使富人变得保守起来。“炫耀曾是美国富人获得精神满足的主要方式，”福塞尔写道，“而现在他们必须躲躲藏藏。”

现在已是时过境迁：有调查显示，美国的百万富翁们每年都在房屋、汽车、古董、珠宝、飞机和其它消费品上花费亿万美元。也就是说，凡勃伦所谓的“炫耀性消费”卷土重来。

衣服：对19世纪末的上流人士而言，衣服的设计原则就是脱离现实。由于遗产继承者最受尊重，因此干活是件丢面子的事；于是衣服也传达出一种闲适自在的生活。凡勃伦说，不管是白色亚麻西装、男士休闲帽、女士胸衣还是无边女帽，衣服就应该“价格昂贵，而且一眼就能看出，穿衣服的人向来不从事任何生产性劳动。”

今天上流社会的衣着则崇尚实用性。悠哉游哉的富人形像已被挽起袖子、埋头苦干的工作狂形像所取代，即便是他们的“工作”只是组织慈善基金会的募捐者。对女人来说，胸衣和无边女帽已被Fendi手包等奢华饰件所取代，600美元的Jimmy Choo凉鞋也成为社会地位的新象征。对男人而言，白色亚麻西装已经过时，售价700美元的牛仔裤和设计师限量T恤才够时尚，而西装是给下属穿的。棕榈滩一个为富人服务的银行家最近对我说，“有钱人每天穿T恤和短裤，因为他们是老板。我们为他们干活，所以得穿西装。”

游艇：福塞尔在《格调》一书中写道，在富人所有的休闲活动中，驾驶游艇──特别是帆船──最为引人注目。“帆船比机动船更要高出一等，因为你不能简单地发动引擎，然后开走──航海是需要天份和风度的。”游艇当然越大越好，但不能搞得太舒适，用木头制成，“暗示着回归本源”。

而今天的游艇几乎都是机动船。在每年建造的长度在80英尺以上的游艇中，只有6%是帆船。这些游艇还将水上航行带来的不便一扫而光：电脑控制的稳定器──用来在停泊时保持船只的稳定──已经成为许多游艇的标准配置。大多数游艇上还有大理石浴室、镶木控制台和露天的Jacuzzi水流按摩浴缸。

当然，今天的游艇最长达500英尺，依然是越大越好。

To be an official member of the American 'upper class' you used to have to follow a clear set of rules.

In his 1899 classic, 'The Theory of the Leisure Class,' sociologist Thorstein Veblen wrote that the Gilded Age rich were defined by their excess leisure and cultivation: 'Refined tastes, manners, and habits of life are a useful evidence of gentility, because good breeding requires time.'

Paul Fussell, the cultural historian, updated these rules in his satiric 1983 book, 'Class: A Guide Through the American Status System.' The upper crust, he said, was distinguishable from the middle class and 'proles' by their tweed jackets, aristocratic chins and aversion to bowling. 'If you want to have status, it's important that you never, never go bowling,' he wrote. Billiards were fine, as long as your house had a 'rather large' billiards room.

Even 'The Preppy Handbook,' Lisa Birnbach's 1980 parody of the prep-school set, served as a useful field guide for blue bloods. Going to Harvard, Princeton or Yale was acceptable; Columbia and Cornell were 'out of the league.'

Yet today, the rules for high society are breaking down. There are simply so many new millionaires and billionaires -- from diverse backgrounds and lifestyles -- that the old signifiers of status have become obsolete. The guy in jeans at the Sotheby's auction is more likely to buy a $40 million Picasso than the guy in the suit, who is probably just an art dealer. And the vast majority of today's richest Americans didn't go to Ivy League schools; others, like Bill Gates, even dropped out. As for Veblen's 'breeding' and 'manners?' One look at the all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch buffet at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach will tell you that manners no longer maketh the rich man (or woman).

So what are the new rules? While there is no longer a unified culture of the elite, today's moneyed class is following certain patterns that sometimes mimic the ways of the old elite -- and sometimes turn them on their head:

-- INHERITANCE -- In Veblen's day, those with inherited wealth had higher status than the self-made rich. 'Wealth acquired passively by transmission from ancestors or other antecedents presently becomes more honorific than wealth acquired by the possessor's own effort,' he wrote. Most of the upper class, Mr. Fussell said, 'owe it all to their ancestors.'

Today, most of America's rich are self-made, and inherited wealth counts for less than 10% of the fortunes of current multimillionaires, according to a study by Prince & Associates, a Connecticut-based wealth-research firm. Entrepreneurs are the new kings of affluence. The inherited wealthy are looked down upon as, in the words of billionaire Warren Buffett, 'members of the lucky sperm club.'

-- SPENDING -- In Veblen's era, conspicuous consumption was the order of the day (he coined the term). The basis for status, he wrote, was wealth, and the proof of your wealth was in the things you purchased. The rich man or woman 'consumes freely and of the best, in food, drink, narcotics, shelter, services, ornaments, apparel, weapons and accoutrements.' Wasteful spending wasn't just tolerated by the wealthy; it was required to show your ample means. By the early 1980s, the rich had become reserved, responding to a post-Depression, cultural backlash. 'Showing off used to be the main satisfaction of being very rich in America,' wrote Mr. Fussell. 'Now the rich must skulk and hide.'

No more. According to some studies, American millionaires are spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on homes, cars, antiques, jewels, jets and other consumer goods. Veblen's conspicuous consumers, in other words, are back.

-- CLOTHING -- For the elite of the late 19th century, clothing was designed to be deliberately impractical. The most honored kind of wealth was inherited, so daily work was considered a debasement. Clothing, therefore, conveyed a life of pure leisure. Whether it was white linen suits and 'lustrous' hats for men or corsets and elaborate bonnets for women, clothing, Verblen said, should be 'expensive but it should also make plain to all observers that the wearer is not engaged in any kind of productive labor.'

Today's elite are all about being conspicuously practical. The idle rich have been replaced by the roll-up-your-sleeves, workaholic wealthy, even if their 'work' involves organizing charity fund-raisers. For women, corsets and bonnets have been replaced by lavish accessories like Fendi handbags, and $600 Jimmy Choo sandals are the new status symbols. For men, white-linen suits are out: $700 jeans and designer T-shirts are in. Suits are for the help. As one Palm Beach banker who serves the rich told me recently: 'The wealthy wear T-shirts and shorts every day, because they've earned that right. We work for them, so we wear suits.'

-- YACHTING -- In 'Class,' Mr. Fussell wrote that of all the pastimes of the wealthy, yachting -- specifically, sailing -- topped the list. 'Sail is far superior to power, partly because you can't do it simply by turning an ignition key and steering -- you have to be sort of to the manner [sic] born.' Bigger was better. Yet the boats had to be slightly uncomfortable, made of wood and 'hinting at privation.'

Today, yachts are almost all powerboats, with sail accounting for just 6% of yachts over 80 feet long built each year. And they are designed to remove all the discomfort of being on the water: Computerized stabilizers -- which make the boat sit perfectly still at anchor -- are now standard on many boats. Most also have marble bathrooms, inlaid wood paneling and Jacuzzis on the sundeck.

Of course, with today's megayachts topping 500 feet, bigger is still better.