Monday, September 11, 2006
Class in America
Sadly, the only barista working this morning was a wiry young man with an intense focus on making coffee. Which means the coffee was great, but no one was waving their hands in the air like they just don't care.
While in line, though, I overheard a great conversation. One undergrad was telling another, "We were middle class. People don't know this, but most of Highland Park is middle class-- it's not like we're Bill Gates."
For those of you outside Texas, Highland Park is a very wealthy Dallas-area community, and probably one of the wealthiest areas of the country. As someone who spent part of his youth in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, another wealthy suburb (and apparently the home of Homer Simpson's wealthy brother Herb), I have often heard similar comments in which those who live in relative wealth identify themselves as middle class.
Actually, almost everyone in America defines themselves as middle class. Sometimes there is a slight qualifier, such as upper-middle class or working class (which is usually seen as part of the middle class), but if you count on self-identification, the U.S. has an upper class of two (Bill Gates and Warren Buffett) a middle class of 281,421,903, and a lower class of one, that being a homeless guy in Portland, Oregon.
So, why doesn't anyone want to be in the upper class or the lower class? I suspect part of it has to do with judgment and expectation. We don't want to be viewed as rich snobs or as dirt poor, and judged for that. More intriguingly, I think people probably don't want to take on the responsibilities that go with those labels. If a person is upper class, they should have a responsibility to share with others their wealth and power-- with such an archaic position goes the duties of noblesse oblige (a duty which, to his credit, Bill Gates is fulfilling). On the other hand, if someone is lower class, it implies an obligation (especially in America) to better himself. If we are middle class, though... we can pretty much be content to stay the way we are, without giving to others or trying to do much better.
While in line, though, I overheard a great conversation. One undergrad was telling another, "We were middle class. People don't know this, but most of Highland Park is middle class-- it's not like we're Bill Gates."
For those of you outside Texas, Highland Park is a very wealthy Dallas-area community, and probably one of the wealthiest areas of the country. As someone who spent part of his youth in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, another wealthy suburb (and apparently the home of Homer Simpson's wealthy brother Herb), I have often heard similar comments in which those who live in relative wealth identify themselves as middle class.
Actually, almost everyone in America defines themselves as middle class. Sometimes there is a slight qualifier, such as upper-middle class or working class (which is usually seen as part of the middle class), but if you count on self-identification, the U.S. has an upper class of two (Bill Gates and Warren Buffett) a middle class of 281,421,903, and a lower class of one, that being a homeless guy in Portland, Oregon.
So, why doesn't anyone want to be in the upper class or the lower class? I suspect part of it has to do with judgment and expectation. We don't want to be viewed as rich snobs or as dirt poor, and judged for that. More intriguingly, I think people probably don't want to take on the responsibilities that go with those labels. If a person is upper class, they should have a responsibility to share with others their wealth and power-- with such an archaic position goes the duties of noblesse oblige (a duty which, to his credit, Bill Gates is fulfilling). On the other hand, if someone is lower class, it implies an obligation (especially in America) to better himself. If we are middle class, though... we can pretty much be content to stay the way we are, without giving to others or trying to do much better.
Comments:
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It's especialy odd that the two upper middle class white kids from Highland Park would disavow their relative wealth, except when you realize they are having that conversation in the midst of a school full of upper middle class white kids. They have no basis on which to make a valid comparison - send them to spend a week in Eagle Pass and see if they still come back saying they are in the middle class.
# posted by 
: 5:09 PM
: 5:09 PM
I have a hard time believing that between this and Facebook you actually have a job. I'm somewhat underemployed at the moment and I'm having a hard time finding enough time to sleep. No, wait...I'm having a hard time finding time to do anything BUT sleep. There ya go.
I think the prevalence of celebreality in today's society is busting a lot of preconceived class notions. Today, rich people have private jets, and butlers, and Bentley collections, and gold toilets, and diamond grillz on their gold toofuses. Rich people are rockstars and rappers and Shaquille O'Neal's, not doctors and lawyers living in a nice house in the burbs. That's not reality, but reality has always taken a backseat to the perception of reality- witness the perception of the perfidious West in the Arab world.
I think the prevalence of celebreality in today's society is busting a lot of preconceived class notions. Today, rich people have private jets, and butlers, and Bentley collections, and gold toilets, and diamond grillz on their gold toofuses. Rich people are rockstars and rappers and Shaquille O'Neal's, not doctors and lawyers living in a nice house in the burbs. That's not reality, but reality has always taken a backseat to the perception of reality- witness the perception of the perfidious West in the Arab world.
# posted by : 5:51 PM
: 5:51 PM
You should see the map of the world with stick pins for "where I spent my Spring Break" after that lovely week on the public school calendar(really, HP is a public school?).
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# posted by : 4:31 AM
: 4:31 AM << Home
