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Saw some conversion about "what middle America is?" and it made me think of a pretty interesting quiz I took last week. Examines how big of a bubble you live in and takes a guess of what your background is. Obviously not an exact science, but interesting none the less.
I got a 24. I was on the lower end of the average and appear to be more disconnected to middle America than most who took the quiz. So do you think this is accurate? Do you think you are average?
Edit: I butchered the title. Classic
You kinda know me from the Philadelphia board. I got 19.
What would be more interesting is to see how the people in the top quintile of "mainstream American culture" points would do in naming US presidents (and their general era in which they lived), identifying US states/European countries, naming just a few elements from the periodic table, explaining in the most basic terms what credit and interest are, recognizing (not even naming) the most famous works of Beethoven or Mozart, being able to name a novel by Mark Twain or George Orwell, or simply stating what religion the Dalai Lama, the Pope, or Gandhi are (were) a part of.
It's true, I haven't been to an Applebees in the last year, so this stuff might be what these people are discussing. Though from the other questions, it seems that it's likely NASCAR or the military. Would just be fun to find out.
I got a 66, so I might not be in the very top of scorers, but I could probably do much better than you on the criteria you stated.
I've worked working class jobs for the last 25 years and I got 42 points. I probably got a lower score because I don't drink, don't have cable/broadcast TV, and don't go out to eat in the suburbs. This quiz is more about exurban/rural/conservative America than it is about blue collar America.
I think the questions asking about wearing a uniform and working in a job that makes you "hurt" (like fast food/the restaurant industry, etc) can be misleading if you're young and in school. Obviously many students who aren't yet in the "real world" work part-time jobs requiring them to be on their feet a lot and wearing a uniform. This probably raised my score a bit as I'm still a student with a part-time job and have never held a "white collar" job (yet... I'm on my way, hence the education). I think in that way, age can make this a bit inaccurate.
I definitely found some of the questions odd. Asking about Branson, if you know any Evangelicals, etc? Definitely leading questions.
I got a 52 but like others, I think it's a poor quality "test." For instance, I grew up in a middle class (some would say upper middle class but not wealthy) household and I went to college but I had a very traumatic experience and as a result of that out of the ordinary experience, I made some really terrible choices that resulted in me being dirt poor, living in a crappy neighborhood, and fulfilling several of the "working class" criteria even though my situation was out of the norm for me and only lasted about four years.
I think lots of the questions are so broad (and so biased) that they can't possibly give an accurate read on most people.
Oh, and do I know any Evangelicals? My gosh, I live in the South. I couldn't throw a cat out my front door without hitting an Evangelical - in my very nice neighborhood. What whoever rigged up this "test" apparently doesn't realize is that many upper crust Southerners - the old money elitists in fact - are Evangelicals. At least they're members of Evangelical churches. Even the debutantes and Homecoming Queens and football team captains and the President of the city's Economical Development Council and the local business owner who employs 300 people and who has a sandwich named after him downtown in the trendy new bistro.
Anyway, whoever wrote this also apparently doesn't realize that many very wealthy, old money folks in Texas drive pickup trucks that cost as much as some houses. Just because they want to. Everything's bigger in Texas - even the parking spaces.
Oh well, it was a silly, pretentious little test but at least it was free.
I got a 52 but like others, I think it's a poor quality "test." For instance, I grew up in a middle class (some would say upper middle class but not wealthy) household and I went to college but I had a very traumatic experience and as a result of that out of the ordinary experience, I made some really terrible choices that resulted in me being dirt poor, living in a crappy neighborhood, and fulfilling several of the "working class" criteria even though my situation was out of the norm for me and only lasted about four years.
I think lots of the questions are so broad (and so biased) that they can't possibly give an accurate read on most people.
Oh, and do I know any Evangelicals? My gosh, I live in the South. I couldn't throw a cat out my front door without hitting an Evangelical - in my very nice neighborhood. What whoever rigged up this "test" apparently doesn't realize is that many upper crust Southerners - the old money elitists in fact - are Evangelicals. At least they're members of Evangelical churches. Even the debutantes and Homecoming Queens and football team captains and the President of the city's Economical Development Council and the local business owner who employs 300 people and who has a sandwich named after him downtown in the trendy new bistro.
Anyway, whoever wrote this also apparently doesn't realize that many very wealthy, old money folks in Texas drive pickup trucks that cost as much as some houses. Just because they want to. Everything's bigger in Texas - even the parking spaces.
Oh well, it was a silly, pretentious little test but at least it was free.
I see your point. I also got 52, but we differ quite a bit. I grew up in a blue collar neighborhood. My father was a commercial fisherman. I like to fish and drive a pick up truck. I don't have any friends that are evangelicals, but that's because I'm not that social and don't have any friends where I live now. Most of my adult life we were middle class to upper middle class, however in retirement we live on much less and in my twenties was low income.
We know at least four wealthy people who drive old trucks and live in modest homes. You would never know that they are wealthy by appearances. These sorts of tests are fun, but that's about it.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
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I got a 57.
I guess it figured me to be a life long resident of a middle class lifestyle.
HAHAHAHAHA That's funny.
In grew up hopping trailer parks and spending a lot of time in a crumbling old farm "house" on a hill that had no indoor bathroom, heat or phone. The north wall was a tarp nailed to some planks. We literally used a horse troth as a bath tub that we filled with buckets from the well we heated on the stove. The stove, by the way, had one working burner.
Yeah... real middle class right there, quiz. V:
I didn't live a more middle class experience until I moved to Louisiana and lived with a friend. We still lived in a trailer out in the woods but it beat the old shack I grew up in by a mile.
I certainly KNEW middle class people. In NY state my kind of poverty wasn't uncommon in my area necessarily, but certainly wasn't the norm for the state at large.
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