Reply to Why do so many people put private school bumper stickers on their cars?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]In England people wear ties that signify what university they went to, please. The ties are also coded so only people who know know.

When I was a child, my dad wouldn’t let me put a school decal on our car, because he thought it looked like bragging. Now I let my kids, because who cares what triggers adult strangers with confidence issues.[/quote]

Seriously.  I really love when the posters show up acting like this is a US-only thing.  Sure, maybe people in the UK don't use bumper stickers, but they sure as heck have ways of broadcasting their membership in the elite.  You want to see elitism in education, try France!    Basically every European country has a separate elite track for education and they have their subtle ways of telling everyone else they're in it.  [/quote]

This.  We are just more direct and open about it as a culture (or tacky and ostentatious for those who sneer at the U.S. way).  It's like the old money new money or city slicker country bumpkin dynamic.  The elitism and exclusivity "I'm better than you" is universal, but just manifests differently.  We are a car culture where much public interaction is on the roads, so there's that.[/quote]

Compared to who? I see lots of brand names and logos outside the US. More than I see in the US. It's ok to wear the shirt, shoes, belts, pants, purses, scarves and hats but gee don't put a label on your car! I would say many more people outside the US are brand conscious even if they are wearing fakes.[/quote]

Accoutrements like brand clothing, luxury goods, and car magnets are signs of a society with social mobility.  People broadcast their status to signal to others who might not know just by looking at them.  If everyday life is in a walkable urban society without a car, a car decal does no good.  Coded language, posh accents, attire, and other trappings of wealth and superiority are required for those settings.  Tomato Tomahto  [/quote]

The Brits are probably the snobbiest culture on the planet.

But wealthy Brits all want to come to the US.  MC folks in the US live like UMC folks in the UK.  UC folks here are out of reach for most Brits.  DH is UMC Brit, just as I come from a UMC American family - our lifestyles were not the same and he feels out of his depth in some of our social circles.  It just is.[/quote]

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