Different kind of a NOVA "social class" question... (unemployment rate, live)

[Alicia Bradley]

Knight, the people who said that to you sound like vulgar sociopaths. I don't want to go as far as accusing you of paranoia, but nobody whose opinion you need to be concerned with would say something like that. In fact, if I caught any of my neighbors voicing such opinions towards me (or anyone else in the neighborhood), I'd frankly be a bit concerned that I had stepped into some creepy small-animal-sacrificing-cult-headquarters-masquerading-as-neighborhood, rather than someplace with such a stratospherically high socioeconomic status that I wasn't qualified to live there.

[Sideblinded]

Well, so far no job offer, but ty all. (No yes, no, no..so kind of a no) If indeed the Job God/Allah/Buddah/ whatever places us there I now know it is ok not to be perfect and live there.

I sincerely appreciate all of your responses! Now I want to move just so I can hang out so I can be neighbors with a few of you now!

[Sideblinded]

Originally Posted by algia

I want to know 1 thing: who? in their busy daily lives has time to check your (or anyone else's) clothes/shoes TAGS? Unless your clothes look like you just rolled in the mud and you attract attention THAT way...or your skin is hanging out THROUGH your clothes...who has time to check that out?



Seriously! this borders ridiculous now.

I apologize, it wasn't about checking lables. It was a question about fitting in, and being worried about it. You are one reason why.

BTW, I am not a muddy woman, but I was a muddy girl!

[marie5v]

I think NOVA is not so different from other places, in that people tend to have long term relationships with people from a similar social background. It's not just about money - it's more about values. I do notice that in VA there is a little more of a division between the educated and not-so-educated, or the middle classes and the working classes. I think it's because there are just more educated people here, whereas in a place where fewer people were highly educated you would see less division because there would be fewer people to divide. Or in the case of where I grew up, so few really educated people compared to uneducated, that the working class was just a more dominant social force. So although NOVA tends to seem like a snobby place, I think it has more to do with there just being larger numbers of really wealthy and really educated people here than in other areas.

Anyway, I don't think Mclean is all that bad, but now Great Falls....

[DC Oldtimer]

Knight, this question has been well-studied in academia.

The simplest answer would probably be that wherever you go, women are always willing to date men of a higher socioeconomic class than themselves (also known as "marrying up.")

Conventional wisdom holds that men do not pay nearly as much attention to a woman's economic situation, but IMO that is changing. Whether you are on to something when you ask if it is more acute around here than other places in the country, I havent seen any data, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is some truth to this, especially among professionals.

[Phoenix2017]

Thx for the valuable comments and feedback DC Oldtimer.

In my head, I can understand exactly the point you had mentioned, about socioecomomic class, and guys & girls' various preferences regarding dating higher or lower on it. From the perspective of my heart though, I would hope that ideally, true love could see beyond all of that...that if you truly loved someone, that your love for them itself would be enough. Personally IMO, a girl's socioeconomic class is irrelevant to me...I just want all of her heart, and her genuine love, that will always be more than enough to keep me happy, and all I would ever dream of

Originally Posted by DC Oldtimer

Knight, this question has been well-studied in academia.

The simplest answer would probably be that wherever you go, women are always willing to date men of a higher socioeconomic class than themselves (also known as "marrying up.")

Conventional wisdom holds that men do not pay nearly as much attention to a woman's economic situation, but IMO that is changing. Whether you are on to something when you ask if it is more acute around here than other places in the country, I havent seen any data, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is some truth to this, especially among professionals.

[Phoenix2017]

Just curious marie5v, by "educated", do mean a 4-year college degree for example? Or an advanced degree, like a Masters Degree, Ph.D, etc.? (As far as the educational separation you had mentioned I mean?)

Thx!

Originally Posted by marie5v

I think NOVA is not so different from other places, in that people tend to have long term relationships with people from a similar social background. It's not just about money - it's more about values. I do notice that in VA there is a little more of a division between the educated and not-so-educated, or the middle classes and the working classes. I think it's because there are just more educated people here, whereas in a place where fewer people were highly educated you would see less division because there would be fewer people to divide. Or in the case of where I grew up, so few really educated people compared to uneducated, that the working class was just a more dominant social force. So although NOVA tends to seem like a snobby place, I think it has more to do with there just being larger numbers of really wealthy and really educated people here than in other areas.

Anyway, I don't think Mclean is all that bad, but now Great Falls....

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by Knight2009

Just curious marie5v, by "educated", do mean a 4-year college degree for example? Or an advanced degree, like a Masters Degree, Ph.D, etc.? (As far as the educational separation you had mentioned I mean?)

Thx!

I really meant it more generally than any specific degree or formal education - a degree is usually part of it, but it doesn't absolutely have to be. Someone educated is articulate, is aware of ideas outside their own belief system, has a decent knowledge of general goings-on in the world and familiarity with basic academic areas, they have the ability to think critically, and so on. Sometimes someone has all those things and has never been to college, and sometimes someone has been to college and still doesn't have them. Perhaps that is less common, but still.

[betamanlet]

Originally Posted by DC Oldtimer

Knight, this question has been well-studied in academia.

The simplest answer would probably be that wherever you go, women are always willing to date men of a higher socioeconomic class than themselves (also known as "marrying up.")

Conventional wisdom holds that men do not pay nearly as much attention to a woman's economic situation, but IMO that is changing. Whether you are on to something when you ask if it is more acute around here than other places in the country, I havent seen any data, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is some truth to this, especially among professionals.

I don't think men will really ever be remotely as concerned with socioeconomic status as women are. But the problem is, is that women are more and more educated, and are basically makingi more money than men are, so therefore there are not enough men for women to marry up to. There are some women who date/marry guys who make less, but they are the exception, not the rule.

[weezycom]

Originally Posted by betamanlet

I don't think men will really ever be remotely as concerned with socioeconomic status as women are. But the problem is, is that women are more and more educated, and are basically makingi more money than men are, so therefore there are not enough men for women to marry up to. There are some women who date/marry guys who make less, but they are the exception, not the rule.

Although money attitudes are changing, men are still generally more competitve and that competitive attitude flows over to earning an income as well. Because of this, a lot of couples I know find that if the man outearns the woman, it eliminates one source of friction b/c that need to out-compete (outearn) the woman is absent.

I've seen similar with guys I've dated, a subtle but definite scorekeeping as to who has spent what on dates.