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you know you are from the working class if....
you refuse to buy a 6.00 beer , even if you can afford it..
At the bar or at the liquor store? And what volume?
My Christmas tradition always involves purchasing a $10.99 bottle of imperial stout. The volume is equal to that of a typical bottle of wine, and the ABV is around the same. Does this count?
Oh yea, and 120 minute IPA. I buy that a couple times a year. Life is too short to drink cheap, crappy beer, even if you are working class
It's interesting to me that in the US, unlike the UK, people tend to avoid labeling themselves "working-class". Unless they were raised in extreme poverty or are Warren Buffett , Americans prefer the term "middle class". But having been raised in a blue-collar home, I've found there are some significant differences between my expectations and experiences in life when compared with my "middle-class" colleagues and friends.
Interestingly, even though my wife is a foreigner, I find she relates to many of these perspectives, as she also comes from a working-class background. Some shared traits/experiences I've noticed:
1) Very little education in how to use/create wealth. Frugal by necessity, but sometimes spendthrifts at payday. No sense of how to invest wisely. Generous, literally, to a fault (for example, by unconditionally lending money to relatives and friends). A lot of time spent visualizing being rich, or hatching hare-brained schemes/playing the lottery, etc.
2) Work is seen as necessary drudgery, not a means to personal fulfillment. Unions are our only defense / don't cross a picket line. Satisfaction is found in hobbies, family, or weekend tasks around the house. College is OK if it leads to a job, but you'd better get a scholarship, and parents can't help you navigate the labyrinth of applications, SATs, tutoring, and financial aid. Reading is an OK escape, but don't do it too much. The TV is always on.
3) "Don't think you're better than other people." Mistrust of "pretense," "elitism," and "fancy stuff." What's familiar (sports teams, neighborhoods, religions, race) is good. For example, domestic beer>boxed wine>any foreign stuff (unless there's an ethnic connection, i.e., Guinness if you're Irish-American). Food should be cheap & plentiful; healthy eating, not smoking and taking care of yourself is weak.
4) Not knowing "the Code." Tendency to over/under dress for the occasion, speak too frankly among wealthier people.
I don't encourage a class warfare mentality, nor do I romanticize growing up working class, but I find the differences interesting. Although I'm probably a "middle class latte-drinker" now , I'm sure I've internalized some of the values I was raised with.
What are your "growing up working-class" experiences?
I see working-class and middle class as pretty much the same thing. Several generations ago in the USA, very few people had the luxury of going to college, if you look at who went to college in 1900, it wasn't the ancestors of the middle class.
At one time college wasn't the glorified trade school it is now, today people go to college in hopes of getting a particular job - not so much to become "educated" but to land a better job -- the same reason people go to trade schools.
In the USA, middle class can consist of a wide variety of income types - a lawyer or doctor can have a sibling that's a machinist or receptionist. The children of the machinist may be the ones who finish college and get high paying jobs, while the doctor's kids quit after two years or ended up with average paying jobs.
Also you can find people in what you consider working class jobs who very much love their jobs, love to work. I know a guy who drove a tractor and still drove one well into his 80s.
It's interesting to me that in the US, unlike the UK, people tend to avoid labeling themselves "working-class". Unless they were raised in extreme poverty or are Warren Buffett , Americans prefer the term "middle class". But having been raised in a blue-collar home, I've found there are some significant differences between my expectations and experiences in life when compared with my "middle-class" colleagues and friends.
Interestingly, even though my wife is a foreigner, I find she relates to many of these perspectives, as she also comes from a working-class background. Some shared traits/experiences I've noticed:
1) Very little education in how to use/create wealth. Frugal by necessity, but sometimes spendthrifts at payday. No sense of how to invest wisely. Generous, literally, to a fault (for example, by unconditionally lending money to relatives and friends). A lot of time spent visualizing being rich, or hatching hare-brained schemes/playing the lottery, etc.
2) Work is seen as necessary drudgery, not a means to personal fulfillment. Unions are our only defense / don't cross a picket line. Satisfaction is found in hobbies, family, or weekend tasks around the house. College is OK if it leads to a job, but you'd better get a scholarship, and parents can't help you navigate the labyrinth of applications, SATs, tutoring, and financial aid. Reading is an OK escape, but don't do it too much. The TV is always on.
3) "Don't think you're better than other people." Mistrust of "pretense," "elitism," and "fancy stuff." What's familiar (sports teams, neighborhoods, religions, race) is good. For example, domestic beer>boxed wine>any foreign stuff (unless there's an ethnic connection, i.e., Guinness if you're Irish-American). Food should be cheap & plentiful; healthy eating, not smoking and taking care of yourself is weak.
4) Not knowing "the Code." Tendency to over/under dress for the occasion, speak too frankly among wealthier people.
I don't encourage a class warfare mentality, nor do I romanticize growing up working class, but I find the differences interesting. Although I'm probably a "middle class latte-drinker" now , I'm sure I've internalized some of the values I was raised with.
What are your "growing up working-class" experiences?
I agree with these, except for #3. I think a lot of people from working class backgrounds feel they are much better than those from higher income households. Often those from higher income backgrounds are looked down upon as 'snobbish' regardless of how they actually act as people.
What is the difference between working-class and middle-class? Does "working-class" include everybody who works or what?
In the American class system, working-class is right under middle-class. Distinctions include education (HS graduate or trade school vs. Bachelor's) and occupation (CNA vs. RN for a hospital, truck driver vs. GIS analyst for the county). Middle-class households generally, but not always, earn more than their working-class counterparts.
Distinctions include education (HS graduate or trade school vs. Bachelor's) and occupation (CNA vs. RN for a hospital, truck driver vs. GIS analyst for the county). Middle-class households generally, but not always, earn more than their working-class counterparts.
Yes, but 30 years ago, the nurse was making crap money. And couldn't you say nurse vs doctor? I mean, nurses bust their behinds on the job just like most working class folks. That can be a rather physically demanding job.
What about truck drivers who own their own rigs? Owner-operators I believe if the term. Some truck driver can also pull some serious dough if they land the right gig. There's plenty of well paid tradesman, some pulling six figures. Of course, there's plenty more who would be lucky to pull half that. I always figured middle class was determined more by the paycheck, and not so much how you earned it.
Yes, but 30 years ago, the nurse was making crap money. And couldn't you say nurse vs doctor? I mean, nurses bust their behinds on the job just like most working class folks. That can be a rather physically demanding job.
What about truck drivers who own their own rigs? Owner-operators I believe if the term. Some truck driver can also pull some serious dough if they land the right gig. There's plenty of well paid tradesman, some pulling six figures. Of course, there's plenty more who would be lucky to pull half that. I always figured middle class was determined more by the paycheck, and not so much how you earned it.
No, many working-class people make more than a typical middle-class person, although on average the earnings are less. Whether a job is considered typically working-class or middle-class is determined by a number of factors. Is the occupation highly supervised by superiors? Do employees largely direct their own work, or is there a template set from higher-up which must be followed? Is it paid by the hour or by salary? Does it largely consist of repetitive, physical tasks or does it require more abstract reasoning?
I used the CNA vs. RN distinction as an example of a modern working/middle-class dichotomy within a career field. A CNA requires a certification that can be earned in six months or less; most employers today prefer a bachelor's degree in nursing when hiring an RN. A CNA spends most of their laboring time, paid by the hour, performing repetitive often very physically demanding activities of daily living for their clients; an RN spends an increasing amount of time supervising CNAs and LPNs, and may have no real physical contact with patients at all. Many RNs have taken on tasks that were formerly the domain of doctors.
And why didn't I use doctors as a comparison point? It's not a middle-class occupation, that's why. It's an upper middle-class occupation, similar to law.
I agree with these, except for #3. I think a lot of people from working class backgrounds feel they are much better than those from higher income households. Often those from higher income backgrounds are looked down upon as 'snobbish' regardless of how they actually act as people.
yeah this is true. I've met working-class people like welders and steel workers who think they could do anything and who believe upper income white-collar workers could never hack the real blue collar work. Which strikes of envy and insecurity. Some of those working class people even think that they could have become doctors if they really wanted to. Lol right... you could have become a doctor but you just chose to become a welder instead.
yeah this is true. I've met working-class people like welders and steel workers who think they could do anything and who believe upper income white-collar workers could never hack the real blue collar work. Which strikes of envy and insecurity. Some of those working class people even think that they could have become doctors if they really wanted to. Lol right... you could have become a doctor but you just chose to become a welder instead.
Yeah, my working-class father-in-law is a bit contemptuous of "pencil pushers" who don't know what "real work is." I think it's a mix of envy, resentment (he had to work instead of going to college), true pride in his accomplishments (he built two houses by himself, for example) and, perhaps, an exaggerated sense of pride to compensate for the feeling of being looked down on by wealthier people.
I guess it's somewhat unusual to find people who feel completely secure in their place in the world. I think many of us build psychic defenses against our insecurity, regardless of where we fall on the socioeconomic totem pole.
I always figured middle class was determined more by the paycheck, and not so much how you earned it.
This is a common way of thinking about social class in America, but social class is not determined by paycheck alone.
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, Americans prefer the term "middle class". But having been raised in a blue-collar home, I've found there are some significant differences between my expectations and experiences in life when compared with my "middle-class" colleagues and friends. 
, I'm sure I've internalized some of the values I was raised with.
