Another striking similarity from the Blade Runner universe and ours is the social class distinctions.  However, the class distinctions in the former are not based on capitol, instead on who an individual is, and in the case of the novel, what a person owns.  The highest class of course would be those in authority, as well as the bounty hunters, the middle class would be the humans who have traveled to Mars or have attained a real animal.  Much like humans, animals have become endangered because of the war, leading to the creation of artificial animals.  However owning a real animal is seen as more prestigious and a symbol of status.  The bottom class is the humans who did not migrate to Mars and are often referred to as “chickenheads”; their migration did not take place because they have been physically damaged as a result of the nuclear war.  These three classes are similar to the class distinctions in the United States, with the latter having three classes based on wealth.  Karl Marx, in his legendary “Communist Manifesto” states that there seemed to be two distinct classes, those who owned the means of production, nicknamed the Bourgeois; the other class would be the working class, nicknamed the Proletarians.  This theory, designed in the 1840’s does not apply to the United States as the middle class can fall into either the Bourgeois or the Proletarians; however this theory seems relevant to Blade Runner.  There appears to be three different classes of humans in the story, but in reality there are simply two classes: human and androids. However it is the humans in the Blade Runner universe who used technology to create these two classes.  In creating the androids, the humans created subordinate beings to rule over.  In our society, technology also plays a key role in class distinctions.  If one were to not have a computer, or any type of knowledge of the internet, or did not own a car, then one would assume they are not in the upper echelon, or the upper classes.

            Ultimately, technology such as the aforementioned computers, as well as e-mails and texts messages, television, are all aspects of technology that shows status but also are new methods of communication. 

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