Most WASP suburbs of New York City? (Garden City, Lee: upper-class, 2013)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
In Westchester, there are only two communities that can really be considered "WASPY" - Bronxville and Rye. But Rye has a lot of "WASPY" Irish Catholics. Perhaps you can add Pelham Manor to the list (sort of).
If you keep to the strict definition of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, then you'll find the number of suburban areas in not just around NYC, but including NJ and Conn has and is continuing to shrink in terms of population. Reason for this is simple, WASPs just as with the overall European/white population is declining all over the Untied States.
Now you can say that Greenwich, Darien, Rye, etc.. have a large white and wealthy populations, but their backgrounds are likely today to be of all European backgrounds and or religions. While small in overall numbers you are starting to find wealthy gay households in such communities as well.
In many of these such suburbs all over the USA more and more it is money that matters over background.
There have been a few studies and or news reports about the decline of White Protestants (WASPs) in the United States. Their numbers are declining due to everything from low birth rates to interracial marriage and the increasing acceptance of gays. You can also see this in the decline of church attendance among the mainstream Protestant churches.
Watch the local NYC news programs, especially the early morning shows. Many of the anchors and reporters of all races and backgrounds live in Westchester, the Hudson Valley, Greenwich, Darien and other wealthy suburbs. You notice this keenly at the jokes/comments that are exchanged about traffic on the "Hutch" (The Hutchinson River Parkway) or I 87.
I have never seen a wasp, or may have but just did not know.
Are wasps the royal family equivalent class in the US? Do they inbreed only? How to identify wasps? any special features/looks/attires? In a way, orthodox/hasidic jews do us a favor by wearing distinctive clothes.
Yes they do tend to intermarry.
"The Preppy Handbook" (1981) will give you some ideas about how to spot one and wear they tend to congregate.
I have never seen a wasp, or may have but just did not know.
Are wasps the royal family equivalent class in the US? Do they inbreed only? How to identify wasps? any special features/looks/attires? In a way, orthodox/hasidic jews do us a favor by wearing distinctive clothes.
You've probably seen a WASP man or woman and just assumed they were your regular average white person. Thing about the old Protestant ethic is they generally consider it vulgar to show off money. Thus you see WASPs driving beat up old cars or looking like nothing special when in truth they could buy and sell all of us participating I this thread ten times over.
Advertising wise Ralph Lauren in particular celebrates if not has built his entire business on marketing the "WASP" ideal. The man has made billions on this, not to shabby for a Jewish guy whose birth name is Ralph Lipschitz.
If you've seen the television series "Sex in the City", Charlotte is a WASP. She marries the very good looking doctor Trey MacDougal and into his whole extremely WASP family.
I have never seen a wasp, or may have but just did not know.
Are wasps the royal family equivalent class in the US? Do they inbreed only? How to identify wasps? any special features/looks/attires? In a way, orthodox/hasidic jews do us a favor by wearing distinctive clothes.
You can't tell, really. I'm a WASP by ancestry (early 1600s Massachusetts and Virginia heritage all checks out, though not quite Mayflower, every branch of the family traces to colonial times up and down the coast, all known family names trace to England or Scotland). My family's not particularly wealthy, though parts of my mother's family were once a relatively prominent New York family four or five generations back, and really far back we're related to the Washingtons of George Washington and some other, less well-known founder fathers. You'd never be able to tell.
There is still money out there and some of it old to ancient, but OTOH large portions of most town in the Hamptons are new to very recent money and very little of it are WASPS. They may be white but that pretty much is where things end. Also the Hamptons have become very popular with gays as well.
You've probably seen a WASP man or woman and just assumed they were your regular average white person. Thing about the old Protestant ethic is they generally consider it vulgar to show off money. Thus you see WASPs driving beat up old cars or looking like nothing special when in truth they could buy and sell all of us participating I this thread ten times over.
Advertising wise Ralph Lauren in particular celebrates if not has built his entire business on marketing the "WASP" ideal. The man has made billions on this, not to shabby for a Jewish guy whose birth name is Ralph Lipschitz.
If you've seen the television series "Sex in the City", Charlotte is a WASP. She marries the very good looking doctor Trey MacDougal and into his whole extremely WASP family.
What are the major cultural differences between WASP and Catholic? We have tons of Jewish people in SF but WASP is this vague cultural group. I am ethnically Chinese.
WASP subcategories:
-Episcopalian
-Presbyterian
-Other denominations I have no clue about
I was surprised to see multiple replies stating Garden City is a WASP suburb. False. Garden City is mostly Catholic and the next most popular religion there is Jewish. Remember, the "P" stands for Protestant. There was a time in this country (including NYC and its suburbs) when being Catholic was looked down upon. Even the KKK would not accept a Catholic person as a member.
What are the major cultural differences between WASP and Catholic? We have tons of Jewish people in SF but WASP is this vague cultural group. I am ethnically Chinese.
WASP subcategories:
-Episcopalian
-Presbyterian
-Other denominations I have no clue about
Catholic
-Irish
-Mexican
-Spanish
-European mutt
Start with links one provided above then feel free to scout out more information on your own.
For WASPS *the* religion was/is Episcopalian with Presbyterian coming up a close second.
Basically WASP and the PWE holds that one's situation in life is a direct result of one's efforts and labours. That is if you are poor then it is *your* fault for not working hard enough, failing to properly plan/manage your finances, and so forth. PWE teaches that the fruits of labour bring blessings (wealth, status, or whatever) in this life and are visible.
OTOH Catholics go in for poverty and suffering in this life in order to receive blessings in the next. That is if you live a hard life, are poor, suffer, etc... you are closer to God and are destined to receive rewards, but after death is when your soul will benefit.
Long story short WASPS are about making money (capitalism), while the Catholic church tends to teach chasing after and accruing worldly gains is somehow wrong. The irony of this has not been lost on Protestants over the years as some of the most richly decorated churches and a religion most associated with "wealth" in terms of assets is the Roman Catholic faith. The new worlds were plundered of gold and jewels, hundreds native persons enslaved, killed and so forth all in aid of in whole or part enriching various parts of the RC church.
Another striking example of the differences between WASP culture and Catholics is in charity. While followers of each faith do believe in providing some "aid" to the poor or disadvantaged even setting up various institutions to provide, Protestant based organizations tend to be shall we say less generous than Catholics. More along the lines of "you can help yourself but don't take too much and don't make it a habit".
One clear example in how this has played out in NYC is in healthcare. Say what you will about the Catholics, but the hospitals founded by various religious orders of that faith provided care regardless of ability to pay. This in part was one of the reasons Saint Vincent's hospital and that whole system went bankrupt. Providing "charity care" is all very well but it leaves huge gaps in financials.
Right up until that place closed the Sisters refused to skimp on providing healthcare to anyone that needed it regardless. It was sort of a well known secret you could have care costing in the tens of thousands and literally not pay half or any of your bill.
On the other side you have the vast and wealthy New York Presbyterian hospital system. Yes, it does provide "charity care" but you won't be getting much there for "free".
Because WASPs and to an extent the PWE have pretty much run the USA for hundreds of years you see the effects on many levels of federal and local government. Everything from tax policy to labour laws.
If you demonize the poor as persons whom have "failed" in life then you are just as likely to oppose any government efforts such as taxation to "take" your money and give it to the "grubby and lazy" poor.
When it comes to labor there again you see a difference between Catholics and Protestants. This is the reason why you see the RC church often aligned with labor unions and others demanding not only decent working conditions but fair wages and better treatment of workers. OTHO WASPs tend to see things as they are running a business to earn profits, not run a social service agency. Again while it is true some or many have made great concessions to "labor", make no mistake about it much of that was done under the guise of being good for business.
Last edited by BugsyPal; 05-28-2014 at 04:29 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
