Do you identify with a social class? What's that like?

[Nikia]

The racial threads: "What's its like to be a black (or white) in America" made me think of this. My husband and I were having a discussion about this too last night. I came from a mixed class background as did my husband. Because of this, many people consider us rather quirky. There is no where that we feel uncomfortable being on account of class. We have had friends of many different backgrounds and are not afraid to be friends with anyone based on their background. Our preferences for things like food, clothing, cars, ect. have to do with what we like, not what we think that we're suppose to have. My husband switches back and forth easily when talking to different people. I am not as socially intune and sometimes come off as snooty or low class depending on the background of the particuliar people. Being multiclassal made it harder for me socially because I never knew that I was suppose to have a place in society. On the otherhand, I think that some people who grew up amongst a more definite class, often limit themselves much more. As an adult, I have thought on this more since my husband and I are fairly alone in a new community without a place.
What about you? Do you identify with a particuliar class? Did you grow up in a fairly static class with all or most of your relatives belonging to that class? Were most of your friends of that class? How did this affect your life then and now?

[Maple]

Yes

Normal.

Everyone is a member of a class.

Whether they like to think so or not.

[Nikia]

23. Let me explain my diversity

My family background: great grandparents: non educated to college educated, dirt poor to owning half the rental properties in town. Grandparents: Maternal-Upper middle class income living on half of their salary which made them live as lower middle class, very informed with my grandfather very educated. I spent a lot of time with them in my early childhood. Paternal: Police officer (his parents owned half the town) and accounting clerk. Lived in a nice big house failr frugally. Also well informed types. Aunts and uncles took a variety of careers and lifestyles from working class to upper middle class. Oour extended families were close while I was growing up. My parents married and had me when they were still teenagers. They went to college and worked while I was a baby. They divorced when I was a few years old and they were both very poor for a while. I believe that my mother got food stamps. My mother, who finished college, became a parole officer after some low paying counseling short term jobs. My sister and I still had to "charge" our school lunches a couple days before she got paid. She used her money to buy nice clothes to attract richer men. She dated upper class to rich men. The richest one was an engineer whose father was a CEO of a tire company. We visited his parents who had a live in maid. My father during the same time had dropped out of college and had a series of manufacturing jobs. He also played in a rock band where he made slightly more than his manufacturing jobs. Unfortunately, he had trouble keeping those jobs because his band took priority over their "mandatory overtime". My mother got a master's degree and got a better job with a non profit although my sister and I still wore rather cheap clothes aside from a few nice outfit bought at the best department stores. When I was in elementary school, I lived in houses owned by a factory near our house. Living in a small city/large town, are elementary school was fairly diverse based on social class although I did not know what that was then. I was the weirdo who read encyclopedias. I was in the gifted program and once a week all the gifted children from all the elementary schools had gifted class. Half the children that were gifted lived in the district that had all the nicest houses in town. I didn't know why that was either. My mother eventually married an upper level manager who belonged to a country club and lived in a nice big house just outside of town. The richest people in town attended the wedding. We had to switch schools to a rural school that was even more diverse than my elementary school, classwise. There were kids that lived in nice rich houses, farms, and trailer parks and I lived in a nice rich house. My first friend at the school lived in a trailer park. I didn't understand social dynamics. I didn't understand why the "popular" kids that lived in rich houses didn't want to hang around me if I hung around her. My rich, although upper middle class is more accurate if he lived in a bigger community, was very abusive to my sister and I. His wealth didn't do us any good either. We were the slaves who were contributing nothing to the household. Still, we went to the country club. When I was in high school, my evil step father got transferred. I moved in with my father despite my mother promising to disown me. My father had just lost his better paying manufacturing job that allowed him to finish college through tuition reimbursement. Unemployment was high in the area though and he did not get a decent job until I was in college. He took a $7.00 job. The woman who he married worked in child care and made minimum wage. We did not experience true hardships until my dad's band broke up. Then we were poor. I no longer got a $10/week allowance or $100 at the beginning of the school year. Food was even an issue as an active athletic young woman. I was told that I ate too much. There had to be left overs for the next day. My father and step mother did not want me to get a job though. My job was to do well in sports and in academics so that I could get scholarships. I did do well and was in lots of other activities as well. I applied to prestigious liberal arts and got enough financial aid to pay the rest. I had friends who were slightly better off financially that didn't even try to go anywhere besides a community college as 4 year colleges were for the rich. I had richer friends who drove brand new cars purchased by their parents. One friend who did not have much of a clue had her parents purchase the other side of her dorm room so she didn't have to have a room mate. This same friend did not know many of her cousins who lived in the same town because they were "trash". Anyway, I went to college with a diversity of students ranging from inner city welfare to donates millions per year to charitable organizations. I think most came from upper middle class backgrounds. I got along with people there better than anywhere else in my life. I don't know if most knew that I got lots of aid. My work study job, food service, was open to non work study students and some wealthier students did work there. I wore the nicest clothes that I could buy on clearnace. I was familiar with more exotic food than most of them which I ate even as a poor food stamp child. I married the son of a successful lawyer. We live in a nice duplex and own nice vehicles. We can buy most things that we want and have shopped in every type of store. We are in the middle quintile wage wise and live in a low cost of living area. I hold a technical job at a manufacturing plant. Most of the people who work there are lower middle class with a few truly poor, based on family size and prior debt situation, and middle class with spouses with better jobs. My best friend is also diverse in class with a totally different set of circumstances.
What class am I?

[Maple]

26. You are middle class

'normal' is other words. Average.

[Leados]

1. I identify with the 'working poor' I suppose

for lack of a better definition. I've seen my parents work harder and harder only to fall behind. If I wouldn't have gotten 10k worth of scholarships to UMR, I wouldn't be able to (at least try) and raise myself socially. Most of my friends were a little better off than my family, but not upper class. I've found that people in classes above me just 'dont get it' when it comes to class, since they're in their mid or upper middle class bubble.

[maddezmom]

2. enough class

to worry about folks less fortunate than me and willing to do something about it.

[Maple]

3. Sorry. Not the

same thing.

[maddezmom]

5. ok...then explain normal

maybe that's what I mean.

[Maple]

6. Social class

Working class, middle class, upper class.

Lower working class, middle working class, upper working class

Lower middle class, middle middle class, upper middle class.

Etc.

Class structure is no surprise to anyone.

It's always with us. Admit it or no.

[maddezmom]

13. ok I guess I get it, but still don't understand your reply of "normal"

let me put it this way, I'm identified with a social class, but I don't define myself by it.

[Maple]

16. It doesn't matter

what YOU think. You are still defined by your social class.

Like it or not.

[maddezmom]

19. again thanks

n/t

[Wcross]

4. No class

I work for a living. I can relate with the working stiff and the down on your luck people. I find people that have to struggle and improvise to get things done more interesting than those that have the silver spoon.

[Maple]

7. Everyone is in a social class

Whether you admit it or not.

[guitar man]

8. Working class

Blue collar background. Truck driving Teamster Dad,traditional housewife Mom.


A lot of people call me a "Redneck" and I guess it fits. a whole lot of people misuse the term equating "redneck" with racists and bigots.

I think Jeff Foxworthy stated it best.Redneck simply means a glorius lack of sophistication. I know folks of all ethnicities that fit the bill in these parts. Like if you have a matching set of salad bowls that all have "Cool Whip" printed on the side.

Or if your house has ever been involved in a traffic accident...

Or if your work bench used to be your front door.......

....If you have never bought a car you could drive home.....

Lol,I love those jokes

Actually,I have really let it bother me about being simple working class folk,as long as I can pay the bills. Shrub and Co. is sure making it hard to keep them paid these days......

[Maple]

9. Not your parents. You.

And if you too are working class, do you plan to remain so?

Why?

[guitar man]

14. Me too

I'm working class. I imagine I will remain that way. I just turned 40 on the 9th of this month. I have had to re-invent myself several times,change professions,change outlooks etc. etc. I played music on the road for several years,worked a day job for awhile,ran a studio business for several years,now I am back to working for "the man"

I am at the point where I am getting tired and losing the desire to re-invent myself again. I paid off the house and property this week,so I am not seeing a big of a need to kill myself to try to make a bunch of money anymore.I am pretty happy to just be able to make a living working 8-9 hours a day and have the rest of the time to do whatever.

[Maple]

18. People at only 40

'giving up' is simply absurd.

[guitar man]

31. Giving up what?

I don't know what I am giving up. I have worked like a dog at everything I have ever done. dad moved us out of the city onto a farm when I was 5,he thought it would keep us away from the drugs and other problems that were developing in the cities back then. while he was out driving trucks for a living,the rest of the family was running the farm,so in effect I have been working ever since I was 5 years old.

When I was on the road on the club/lounge circuit,I worked my ass off at that.When I wasn't,I worked in shipyards and welding shops etc. etc.

I started my recording studio/cd duplication business in 1995 and just shut it down at the first of this year. for the 8 years I ran it I worked 16 hour days,6-7 days a week. I made a pretty good chunk of cash during that time,but over the last year or so that I ran it,the profits started dwindling due to a very poor local economy down here.


I have everything I want now. Own a house outright,have a couple of really nice vehicles to drive and am keeping good food on the table and the bills paid. I still have the studio which is paid off,so I can do hobby projects if I feel like it.If not,I just might want to actually sit down and watch a ball game when I am off,or go fishing.Maybe even take off to Biloxi for a weekend and play some blackjack and slot machines. Anything besides working 7 days a week for a change. I don't call that giving up.

[ikojo]

21. Born working class and will probably die

working class.

Please click here for a study on class mobility....

http://webs.wichita.edu/dt/insidewsu/show/article.asp?201

or click here for a transcript of an interview David Brancaccio did with Mr Henwood on class mobility or the lack thereof http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_henwood.html

[alwynsw]

10. PWT

'nuff said

[Maple]

11. Nothing said

actually. Sorry.

[nuxvomica]

12. My folks both came from the working class

My mom's dad was a bus driver. My Dad's, an immigrant shoe repairman and mill worker. My dad went to college on the GI bill and became a successful CPA, though he suffered the taunts of his working-class buddies all the time he was going for his degree. He belongs to the country club but his best friends that are still alive are from the old neighborhood. These things were never much of an issue in our household. We were raised to believe that ambition was important and class didn't mean much.
His late brother had the same story of upward mobility but he and his family are more exclusively upper middle class in their lifestyle and social circles.
My dad's a Democrat and his brother was a Republican.

[dofus]

15. I come from blue collar

working class folks. My dad actually had a college education (graduated in 1935) at a time when few had one, but he wound up because of alcoholism, being a clerk in a factory. Mom was a nurse. All four grandparents emigrated from Ireland.

I held working class, nominally white collar jobs (telephone operator, various clerical, airline ticket agent) and married an upper middle class man, son of a doctor. I'm comfortable in a particular range of class situations.

A lot of people in this country simply don't understand the concept of class and don't realize that they realize are a member of one class or another. We can rise up or fall down, be comfortable in more than one setting, but we're all bound by class in some way.

[Maple]

17. If you choose to remain

working class...that is your choice.

But people will see you as lacking ambition.

And all people are definable by class...whether you like it or not.

[argyl]

20. Both my parents were born on farms.They both have college degrees

also,as do I.However,my job is considered paratech\professional.I guess I'm blue collar college educated.

[Maple]

25. No

you're middle class.

[SiobhanClancy]

22. No...

I do not. If others choose to regard me as a member of one class or another,that is their issue. It's never been a concept that I relate to. My family was so democratic that even the people who worked for us were treated as equals. I'm not sure what would define a "social class" in this day and age. I know that Franklin Roosevelt's father didn't like for his mother to visit the Vanderbilts,who lived just down the road from them in Hyde Park. Although wealthier than the Roosevelts,the Vanderbilts weren't considered(at least by the senior Mr. Roosevelt)to be their social equals.To him,it seems that social class was defined by some concept of "breeding",and certainly not one of wealth. I'm just using this example to illustrate what I feel is a lack of clarity on just what does constitute a "social class". I think it's a terribly undemocratic and antiquated concept,however it is defined.

[Maple]

24. Social class is well defined

Your not understanding it doesn't change it.

[SiobhanClancy]

27. OK...

why not define it for me? If I am able to understand it,it might in some way be helpful. Your statement that it is well defined does not make it so...it only tells me that YOU believe it to be so,which I certainly would not argue with.

[Maple]

28. I have no idea what you do....

you've told me what everyone else does, not you.

So you are either middle or working class.

I don't define it...there are reams of books and info available on this.

[SiobhanClancy]

30. Thank you...

It seems that you feel it is defined by profession/occupation and/or income.
I wouldn't put myself in either of the classes you mention. You can,of course,put me wherever you please if it suits your views.

[Nikia]

29. That's why I need people to help me understand it

I was not as social as many people are when I was a child. As I described my circumstances, I was never shown or told what "my place" was. I did not grow up in a nice stable class mentalitied family or live amongst a homogeneous group of people class wise. When I moved in with my step father and went to my new school, I became aware that something was going on, but did not fully understand it. I graduated three years ago from college and am trying to define myself as an adult in the world having my college friends and working class friends that live nearer to me and living in a community far from the place where I was raised. My husband and I want to make more friends, get involved in organizations, and become part of the community but feel that we need to get a better understanding of social class to do this.