Your social class

[medjay]

I spent all afternoon yesterday looking at a PBS documentary about Chicago. Of course, a lot of it had to do with the social problems between Irish/German/Russian immigrants and so-called "native" born (W.A.S.P.) Americans. The line between the privileged and the working class was clearly drawn. Labor disputes turned violent and ugly.

So it got me to thinking: Today's climate isn't a whole hell of a lot better. Who here considers themselves to be blue collar/working-class? Who here is of white collar stock and do you look at yourselves as occupying a higher rung on the social ladder?

Do you feel as if you were bred for your current social status? Did you work to move from one to another? Are you comfortable being who/what you are or are you aching to switch?

Discuss . . .

 

[Lovepotion69]

Where do you draw the lines for social classes? The way you count social class in the US is probably different to the UK and other part of Europe. I know it's different between UK and Sweden for sure.

I like the question though...

/LP

 

[badasschick]

I've gotten a lot of flack, especially in college for being "bourgie". I didn't get it. Why ostricize me for growing up on a beach, and or going to private schools? I never felt that I was any better than any one else, and I associated with a nice mix of people from all social class backgrounds.

What bugged me the most was being criticized for not being "Black" enough because of this. WTF?

 

[Sheaf_Beast]

Are you comfortable being who/what you are

Yes. I like who I am and what I do. Do I go to town for a nice eve of fine dining and arts. Yes. But also the next day I am back at home doing the things that go right along with what needs to be done. Blue collar or white collar working people would not trade to do the work that comes along with going outside and taking care of livestock.

 

[Cheyenne]

So it got me to thinking: Today's climate isn't a whole hell of a lot better. Who here considers themselves to be blue collar/working-class? Who here is of white collar stock and do you look at yourselves as occupying a higher rung on the social ladder?

Do you feel as if you were bred for your current social status? Did you work to move from one to another? Are you comfortable being who/what you are or are you aching to switch?

Discuss . . .

I was born to and grew up in a blue collar family. It was assumed that I would go to college and get a white collar job. I never considered doing anything else. My parents taught me that education was key to getting a better job than either of them had. I am comfortable with either blue collar or white collar people, which has helped my career over the years.

The irony is that I ended up in the same industry that my dad worked in his whole career. I just have a management spot where he was one of the blue collar guys. Still, we joke that I followed in his footsteps afterall.

 

[Cheyenne]

I've gotten a lot of flack, especially in college for being "bourgie". I didn't get it.

What's "bourgie?" I've never heard the term before.

 

[P. B. Walker]

Grew up as a military brat to two Army officers. Not sure what "class" that puts me in.

PBW

 

[Thin Man]

Badass

I see some of that happening with "middle class" blacks.

It seems to be a more common attitude today. Upwardly mobile is not a bad thing unless the mobility of the observer is immobile.

 

[kotori]

White, ethnic (i.e., Irish Catholic), white-collar, middle-class "professional" even (lower tier).

My parents' generation was the transitional one. The grandparents were the blue collars. With Walter Reuther and the UAW. The great-grandparents were the immigrants.

That being said, there's still another tier, for sure, especially in this town. My best friend here is "old money" for this place: WASP, boarding school, Ivy League. It's not obvious, in-your-face, but there's an undercurrent.

 

[schwaantz_nj]

I always wondered...

I've gotten a lot of flack, especially in college for being "bourgie". I didn't get it. Why ostricize me for growing up on a beach, and or going to private schools? I never felt that I was any better than any one else, and I associated with a nice mix of people from all social class backgrounds.

What bugged me the most was being criticized for not being "Black" enough because of this. WTF?

Not that I can relate but I do see your point about being criticized for not being "black" enough. What does that mean? In my area at the moment there is a buzz about black individuals, adults and children a like, taking issue with white kids acting black. That of course begets the argument about what is black culture, white culture, hip hop culture, is hip hop culture black culture because black people pioneered the music style, etc.

In my eyes using ebonics/having poor grammar and hanging your pants around your ass are all signs of ignorance not color. I can face the facts that kids these days take pride in sounding as ignorant as possible, both black and white. This issue has been around for years why it is getting press now I am not sure. I just think it is a shame that any member of any race would criticize another member of their race for sounding educated! The world is going to hell in a handbasket.

 

[badasschick]

What's "bourgie?" I've never heard the term before.

A black person who grew up upper-middle class, speaks "proper english", generally a black person who doesn't fit a stereotype.


Often criticized a not being "real".

Slang terms:Huxtable, Oreo, etc.

 

[medjay]

I was born to and grew up in a blue collar family. My parents taught me that education was key to getting a better job than either of them had.

I grew up in an artistic household (my mother was a painter/singer and my father was a writer/musician) so neither corporate climbing nor dirty work were part of my agenda. But I do wonder about people who feel that the white collar job is somehow "better". More money? Maybe. Not always.

I consider myself blue-collar yet a highly skilled tradesman. I make decent money, I like what I do and I'm happy. I know for a fact that I would be miserable if I were to go another route. I think sometimes kids are pressured into careers they might not be spiritually or psychologically cut out for because society says chasing the dollar is of utmost importance.

 

[Agent99]

Cheyenne, that is slang for bourgeois-middle class.

I was raised with wealth, but with a strong work ethic. I still do my own house and yard work. And not just because the stock market has been in a 3 year nosedive! I've always been this way.

I feel every bit as comfortable around people with less money than I have as I do around those whose bank accounts dwarf mine. I can find commonalities with the janitorial staff and the president of the company.

 

[Lovepotion69]

Dad came from working class family, not much money. Worked since he was 13, paid his own way through school and worked his way up. Mom had it easier, but that's because grandma had been very working class but with a good head for business and worked her way up. So mom grew up in a bit more privileged environment.

Both of them are I guess "white-collar" people as you put it. Guess I was raised that way too. They put education before anything else for me and want me to get a good job with good pay, mainly using my brain and not my hands.

I think I'm in the middle. Background and way of living is more different from my friends in Sweden, but it works fine. I get along with people from most backgrounds. You learn a lot from hanging out with a mixed crowd.

/LP

 

[Cheyenne]

I grew up in an artistic household (my mother was a painter/singer and my father was a writer/musician) so neither corporate climbing nor dirty work were part of my agenda. But I do wonder about people who feel that the white collar job is somehow "better". More money? Maybe. Not always.

I consider myself blue-collar yet a highly skilled tradesman. I make decent money, I like what I do and I'm happy. I know for a fact that I would be miserable if I were to go another route. I think sometimes kids are pressured into careers they might not be spiritually or psychologically cut out for because society says chasing the dollar is of utmost importance.

My dad would have been miserable in a white collar job. He had the chance when he was younger and he turned it down. But he also knew that life would have been easier had he had a job that paid more. We got along with help from my grandparents when I was growing up.

I don't feel like I was pressured, and I doubt my siblings do, either. All of us have some kind of initials behind our names (No MD's though.) All of us earn at least twice as much as my dad ever did. Me, much more than that. I think we are each happy with our career choice, too. I know I wouldn't change mine, even if I could.

 

[Angel]

When my parents were still married, we were quite well off. My dad even forbid my mother to work because it wouldn't look right.

When they divorced I lived with my mom damn near in poverty and my father who has a boatload of money and always has 'helped' us out with a generous child support payment of 60 bucks a month. (Which he paid from the time I was 5 until 18)

I'm nowhere near that anymore, and I don't intend to be either.

 

[medjay]

I think what really bothered me about the documentary was the fact that millionaire developers and business moguls fought tooth and nail to keep from paying workers a living wage, all the while insisting that since they were Irish/German/Russian they didn't even deserve basic human rights. Sweat shops are still in business today.

I'd like to hear from some union-busting fat cat about why these types of practices are acceptable. Anyone . . . ?

 

[badasschick]

I think what really bothered me about the documentary was the fact that millionaire developers and business moguls fought tooth and nail to keep from paying workers a living wage, all the while insisting that since they were Irish/German/Russian they didn't even deserve basic human rights. Sweat shops are still in business today.

I'd like to hear from some union-busting fat cat about why these types of practices are acceptable. Anyone . . . ?

You won't hear it from me!

 

[sweet soft kiss]

I was raised to be a middle class wife and mother... things didn't work out quite that way... but it was my own choice...

 

[Worm]

I support Unions but Union leadership has become something of a joke.

 

[medjay]

You won't hear it from me!

I don't expect to hear it from anybody. There are plenty of businesses out there who employ wage slaves under awful conditions while filling the company coffers. I'm sure they're very self-congradulatory with their peers but I doubt they'd have the balls to back up their practices on an open forum.

We all saw what happened in Roger & Me.

 

[Lost Cause]

Elitist's create "class"....

If no one was around to point out differences in people for the purpose of division, envy, and to create some sort of imbalance, we would all be the same, just in different stages of income maturity.
The state of being in America, is you transend all different work environments if you want to, or stay at an income level if you want to, or the governemnt provides incentive for you to stay there. (taxes, or welfare)
A great percentage of those immigrants in the PBS special, most likely have decendents that are well off and comfortable. Before the advent of the socialist nanny state here, people could create a business where a void existed, and thrive with little governemnt interference.
It's still possible today, if you look for positive examples.

Answer: I belong to no "class" of people, I'm just at a certain point of financial maturity.

 

[badasschick]

We all saw what happened in Roger & Me.

Bunnies for sale!

For pets or for food.

 

[medjay]

I support Unions but Union leadership has become something of a joke.

Dude, I didn't even bother to vote on my union's contract this year because I'm so disgruntled.

 

[bknight2602]

I'm in a white collar job that invovles supervising blue collared in a job site. Best of both worlds, IMHO.