Does social class matter to you?

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I am amused by your conversation.

I find I tend to get along with misfits of all social classes, and I don't care if my friends are 'beneath me' or 'above my station.' I tend to meet people via uni, in my experience of the people at uni I tend to get along better with those of working-class origins, probably because they are the more intellectually inclined, whereas a lot of middle and upper class people at uni are there sort of by default.
As an aside, the precise determination of social classes seems to vary considerably between countries; in the UK, the way you talk seems to be the most important factor. In the US, it seems primarily about multiple specific status symbols, in Mexico it is about money. An obsession with accent is very peculiarly British.

I've noticed this as well in other countries like India & I think it's more extreme there than it is in the UK. Born to rich parents & you will be in a high social class. Born to an 'untouchable' and you will forever be one no matter what you do. I'm not sure if it's still like this but it's what I remember from a documentary that I watched.

Here in New Zealand I haven't really noticed much of this. Of course there will always be people who think they are better than others (especially in some parts of Auckland) but I wouldn't say we are a country to define ourselves as either upper, middle, or working class people. I've asked people before what social class they would put themselves into and they seem to find it offensive or don't know what I'm talking about. I guess this is why my mum says it's one of those topics to avoid talking about (which now that I know, I do).

Social class doesn't mean anything to me. As long as the person is nice then I will be nice to them.

Social class doesn't bother me, but intelligence level does. I find I can't relate to people who aren't of the same general intelligence level as me, simply because we have nothing in common and therefore I have nothing to talk to them about.

If this makes me a snob, then so be it, but I don't want to talk about inane things like celebrity gossip or tabloid news when I have to talk to people. I want to talk about things I at least have an interest in like current affairs or politics if someone doesn't share the same niched interests as me like science or IT.

Exactly.

"When our desires are free," he said, "there'll be no schools or prisons,
No parliaments or leaders to coerce us with their laws,
No property, no money, to raise false divisions,
And there can be an end to the endlessness of war."

Social class is a false division, certainly - but a very real false division, and one which needs to be fought against, not ignored.



Working class, thanks, and you are absolutely wrong in your assessment. Firstly, there is no bar on working class people having an ASD, so talk of "them" and "us" is wrong. Secondly, suggesting working class people as a whole, or even in general, do not possess quite the same inherent reasoning capacity as Joe Toff is silly: culture, education and money combine to prevent the expression of that capacity and keep people "in their place".



Of course.

Your social class or mine

Last edited by Blindspot149 on 08 Mar 2010, 9:10 am, edited 1 time in total.

Or even mine?

i thought social class only mattered in like the 1800s

It dosen't matter as much as it did, but people still place value on it. Thing is, it's hard to define all the classes now, and the middle class has different classes within it because it's expanding so much too.

A lot of people in the north of the UK act like the industrial age isn't over yet.

This is a totally interesting area because in our country social class is still here. I could write an essay on this. Let me give you a few examples though. ( having been a house painter most of my life I am regarded as lower class by the way, I'm just grateful that I got to work with some other guys as an Aspie.)

OK Here's a quick example.- You get injured at work . You go to casualty for stitches. You're wearing old clothes, covered in paint . The staff will call you "mate". "Sit over here mate" You will ask questions "like this is the Radial nerve right ? How long will it take for the nerve damage to heal, what does it move?" They will make like you wouldn't understand the longer answer.

You go back in smarter clothes to have your stitches out . "Would you like to sit down?" You ask the same question, and you have a conversation about nerves, regeneration etc, what the Radian and Median nerves control etc.. They explain talk more to you like an equal.

This is a well tested observation. Some years back a group of social researchers measured the amount of time GP's spent with their patients . Universally they spent far less time with those from working class backgrounds presenting the same symptoms as those from middle class
backgrounds. The time and content of conversation was measured. Also some GPs felt inclined to "chat" and make personal disclosure to the middle class but not their working class patients.

It runs so much deeper than this . Not all middle class are like this, but its there.


Is it like this in the USA?

Social class is something I've heard about but do not percieve. From what I have been told, most everything one says and most everything one does is with some motive of establishing one's social status. This is a completely foreign concept to me and I was oblivious of it until joing WP and reading about it/having discussions with others. It appears that "class" often equals money, or at least the appearance of it.

Eg
Fashion: Expensive/name brand clothes are "fashionable" because they show that a woman has money to spend on large amounts of expensive clothing. It is unfashionble to wear the same thing too often for this reason. Jewelry is the same.
Cars: People buy fancy expensive cars to show off to everyone that they have money and class

As for what types of things establish social status in regular conversations - I still have no clue about that but I've been told it happens.

Me, I would assume that women dress nice because they want to look good for themselves and to possibly attract a mate. And they buy name brands because.. well.. I never understood that honestly. Just because they think they are supposed to I guess. Sheepleness.
I would assume that people get fancy cars because they like how they look.

Doing everything for the sake of making an impression on the minds of others seems very confusing and pointless to me. I have worn Yu-gi-oh! T-shirts to work because the show was my special interest. What kind of status did that establish for me, I wonder? :lol:

*side note edit*
I was thinking just now about how odd it is that it's actually against the rules to talk about how much money you make or ask someone else how much they make and it would be very rude to talk about how much you have in savings or whatnot. Being direct about it is considered rude but underhandedly showing off your material posessions for the sake of indirectly indicating you have money is the acceptable, no, desired way of behaving???

^Agreed.


Money = Status, always has, always will. I never recognised "social skills" as having any effect on that, or very little.(except for the extremes) Sure, it can be used to 'tweak' your ranking up or down a few points, but ultimately, it's financial status that determines your place in society.

I try not to let it both me, but I've always been intimidated by people of higher social status than myself, because I know they think of me in a condescending way.

I don't think class ever went away, or ever will. People will always find ways to classify others, whether by accent, bank account, trade, or who has the biggest weeny.

Agree.

My first reaction when I realised that people actually noticed and cared about these things:
"What... the.... f**k? Why???".

My reaction to it still has not changed.