Reply to Upper-Middle Class vs Middle-Class Lifestyles

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[quote=Anonymous]In societies that are more class-bound, there is little anxiety about social status because you are stuck wherever you were born. No matter how you act, you are always defined by where in the pecking order by your grandparents and great-grandparents. There is no need to talk about it because it is a given. There's no moral failure to being a part of a lower class, just bad luck.

In contrast, the American narrative/story/myth of being class-less results in many people being unsure of their place on the ladder. Not too long ago (and maybe still) every white American -- no matter how ill-mannered, uneducated, or poor -- could always claim their whiteness to feel they were better than every person of color. Coupled with the meritocratic ideal, not being better positioned has become a sign of failure to be smart enough or good enough to make it.  Some people comfort themselves by making sure the folks they think are below them stay there or want to turn the clock back to when their attributes might have been better valued. More obsess over which watch or car or other consumer good to buy to signal their rightful position or their aspiration.

An old fashioned Marxist would just ask your relationship to the means of production. Do you own the factory? Do you have to sell your labor?     [/quote]

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