The media emphasizes that anyone can purchase the products advertised on television, regardless of his or her social class. As such, the working and lower class are drawn into such advertising, thinking that they can also acquire the items that more privileged classes have, and this results in increased financial debt.
Class structure hampers the recognition of the contributions of working, middle, and lower classes to the economy. In The Real Story of the Superheroes, Dulce Pinzon redefines immigrant identity with regard to the contemporary labor conditions framing such workers' productivity. She uses a documentary style to highlight the occupational lives of immigrant men and women in New York. She dons these workers in superhero attire to portray them as significant players in the American economy and compel her readers to redefine the notion of heroism. The exaggerated, cartoon-like, and colorful visibility of immigrant workers in their carnival costumes stresses the loss of their identity in the host country. This is why Pinzon includes a caption for each photograph indicating the name of the worker behind the masque, the job performed, and amount of money that he or she sends home. Pinzon hopes to increase Americans' acceptance of immigrants by portraying them in a positive light and elevating citizens' awareness and respect for the input of immigrant labor in enriching their daily lives.
Class structure leads to the exploitation of lower and less powerful classes by higher and more powerful ones. In "The Most Dangerous Job in America", Eric Schlosser argues that meatpacking constitutes the job with highest safety risks in America. He notes, "The injury rate in a slaughterhouse is about three times higher than the rate of a typical American Factory" (172). Over 40,000 workers in meatpacking facilities suffer severe injuries in America alone and "thousands of additional injuries and illnesses most likely go unrecorded" (172).