Social Class Anxiety

I’m curious about markers for social class in the United States.

What I am not talking about is money. I know there are rich and poor. I’m interested in figuring out behavior and cataloguing it as low class, middle class and upper class. I’m interested in zeroing in on behavior that indicates class anxiety.

I’m not curious what income level distinguishes lower class from middle class from upper class. I am curious about the behaviors that distinguish class, no matter how much money one has. Some behaviors and choices are low class even if they done by the filthy rich (I’m thinking about the trashy behavior of many rappers, rockers, actors, athletes, etc).

Class anxiety seems most pronounced at the boundaries between lower class and middle class and upper class.

Cathy Seipp was very interested in class. She talked about this woman in a trailer home who talked about her space for “crafts.”

Environmental causes and national parks and PBS and NPR and classical music seem to be the province of the middle and upper classes.

If you walk into a living room and it is oriented to the TV, that strikes me as low class. Not having a library (or a library card) strikes me as low class. Not having a passport strikes me as low class.

The working class seem obsessed with teaching their children to adhere to external standards while the middle class try to inculcate internal standards.

Not wanting to talk about class anxiety or class markers, what does that indicate? A desire not to appear vulgar? This strikes me as middle class. The lower class and the upper class are more cognizant and accept of the reality of social class.

Wikipedia says:

Parental views are the perhaps most essential factor in determining the socialization process which shapes new members of society.^[5] The values and standards used in child rearing are commonly closely related to the parent’s occupational status.^[2] Parents from the professional class tend to raise their children to become curious independent thinkers, while working class parents raise their children to have a more communal perspective with a strong respect for authority.^[2] Middle class parents tend to emphasize internal standards and values while working class parents emphasize external values.^[2] Sociologist Dennis Gilbert uses a list of values identified by Melvin Kohn to be typical of the professional middle and working class. Middle class parents values for their children and themselves included: “Consideration of Others, Self-Control, Curiosity, Happiness, Honesty, Tolerance of Nonconformity, Open to Innovation… Self-Direction.” This contrasted with surveyed working class individuals, who reported: “Manners, Obedience… Neatness, Cleanliness, Strong Punishment of Deviant Behavior, Stock to Old Ways, People not Trustworthy… Strict Leadership” as values for themselves and their children. There is a strong correlation between these values and the occupational activities of the respondents. The job characteristics of middle class respondents included: “Work Independently, Varied Tasks, Work with People or Data,” versus working class parents of reported “Close Supervision and Repetitive Work…”^[2]

“	Not once in a professional middle-class home did I see a young boy shake his father’s hand in a well-taught manly gesture… Not once did I hear a middle-class parent scornfully-or even sympathetically-call a crying boy a sissy or in any way reprimand him for his tears… even as young as six or seven, the working class boys seemed more emotionally controlled-more like miniature men-than those in the middle-class families.	”
—Sociologist Lillian Rubin in Gilbert, 1998

Gender roles are also viewed differently by those in the higher and lower social classes. Middle class individuals, who were more open towards “nonconformity” and emphasized individual self-direction as well as critical thinking, were also less stringent in their application of gender roles. Working class individuals, on the other hand, emphasized gender roles. While working class people have more and more assimilated to middle class culture regarding their view and application of gender roles, differences remain. Professional class people are more likely to have an egalitarian distribution of work in their household with both spouses being equals in heterosexual marriages. According to Dennis Gilbert, “College life, generally a prologue to upper-middle class careers, delays marriage and encourages informal, relatively egalitarian association between men and women.”^[2][6]

Class markers:

M. Barrett writes: You have three cards in your packet, one red, one white and one blue. The red card, signifying debt and financial problems are for the working class and lower classes, the white card
is for the middle class and the blue card is for the upper middle class. You will be asked to use these to share your perception of the social class values of things, values and recreations by holding up a card. Some of these will be clear, and some will be unclear, so this relies on your perceptions of social class markers.

For example, what is the first thing that comes to your mind, your first perception of the social class you would associate with Martinis? Hold up the corresponding card please. For some things, you might believe that it applies to multiple social classes, and you would need
to hold up two or even three cards: for example, what is your first perception of the social class you would associate with Budweiser Beer?

Lets try some drugs. What social class do you
associate with:
Crack
Cocaine
Marijuana
Xanex

How about brands of clothing?
Nike
Prada
Armani
Red Wing
Lands End

What about fabrics:
Flannel
Polyester
Silk
Wool

What about retail stores:
Wal-Mart
Eddie Bauer
Neiman Marcus

Cars:
Volvo
Ford
Cadillac
Old Cadillac

Vacation destinations:
Florida vacations
Hawaii vacations
Vacations to Europe

Home life
Spanking children as a regular form of
discipline

What about social class and media?
The Discovery Channel
The Bob and Tom Show
National Public Radio
Country and Western Music
Opera

What about sports?
NASCAR
Polo
Football
Golf
Putt Putt Golf

What about dialects:
“I got no dog in that fight.”
“Don’t mean nothing.”
“Eschew obfuscation”

Places to stay:
Motel Six
Holiday Inn
The Plaza Hotel

From PBS.org:

• In “Pride, prejudice and the
  not-so-subtle politics of the working class,” Katherine Boo
  talks about how uniforms send an explicit class message. At what point in your working life do you get to wear a tie?
• 
  In “The
  Dark Side of Camp,” Gareth Cook claims that camp humor often contains a pointed class message that reflects the cultural preferences of the über-hip.
• 
  In
  “The Rise of the Educated Class,” David Brooks suggests that the old WASP Establishment committed class suicide 40 years ago in order to allow a new meritocratic class to flourish.
• 
  In “Our Climb to the Sublime: The $5,000 BBQ grill and other milestones,” Robert Frank explores the dark side of the luxury spending boom
• 
  In “Where to Go When You’re Broke,” Brendan I. Koerner examines a pawnshop and the folks who do there “banking” there.
• 
  In “A Touchy Subject,” Paul Fussell explores the difficulty that Americans have talking about class.
• 
  In “Working Poor,” Barbara Ehrenreich writes about leaving her comfortable middle-class lifestyle behind to work as a house cleaner for wealthy residents of Maine.

From my live cam chat:

Beth: The United States is a classness nation. We don’t hold to old world notions like that. I don’t know any ‘climbers’ because the idea that I or anyone is ‘lower’ than anyone else is absurd.
YourMoralLeader: how come middle class shops at fancy department stores and the rich and poor shop in thrift shops, kmart, target etc?
YourMoralLeader: it’s class, middle fear appearing low class, must shore up by shoping fancy
YourMoralLeader: rich have no fear, shop anywhere
Beth: That’s a sweeping generalization. Plenty of rich people would be ahamed to be seen at WalMart, and plenty of middle class live within their means.
YourMoralLeader: classical music – class marker. Only middle and upper patronize it
Beth: Class stratification in America is based on three things, all of which are interconnected. Job, salary, and education.
Beth: Again, you’re generalizing. Only people who can afford tickets go to the symphony. That doesn’t necessarily mean people who can’t afford it don’t like it.
Beth: We give the poor a huge leg up in this country by subsidizing their higher education.
Beth: All of those things can be had/used by anyone. There are no boundaries. Especially not with easy credit.