Class, Privilege, and Social Markers

[Dylan]

Originally Posted by Medusa

I meant to start this thread last week after something that I posted triggered something in me that I wanted to talk about but Im ever the procrastinator so here I am now.

I recently got a promotion at work and was pretty overjoyed and wanted to share the news with my friends. I went in the thread and posted something about getting my promotion and ended up going back and deleting a sentence where I referenced "making more money than I ever have in my life".
When I posted, I was pretty caught up in the joy-moment and felt like I was referencing a new freedom I would experience due to this promotion. When I went back and read my post, I deleted the reference to the salary because I had a sense of shame about talking about "the money".

I was discussing this with a friend and kinda teased it out a little to understand that my moment of shame was a throwback to the first time someone told me it was rude to talk about money. That only very poor people talk about money in this way. Im not really shamed by being seen as poor or talking about growing up on food stamps and homeless at random times.

I definitely grew up in a working class family. I definitely have a relationship with money where I dont have filters about what "should and should not" be talked about. Ive also noticed that people sometimes appear to be uncomfortable when I (or anyone else) talk candidly about getting something for $1 at a yard sale or etc.

With growing up poor, I think that many folks have different social markers and possibly a different access to privilege or even recognizing privilege. I can remember knowing the difference between the kids who had money and the kids who didnt in school, usually based on arbitrary things like clothing and shoes. As an adult, I dont really care how much money people have until Im in a situation where I cant financially keep up with their lifestyle (and here I am talking about being able to travel to expensive places with friends or friends who want to eat out at expensive restaurants)

Anyone wanna talk about this shit?

Great topic. Classism has been an issue in my life since I can remember. I'll spare everyone the 'growing up poor' stories, but I find it interesting how classism is overlooked a lot of times.

I too grew up knowing my 'place' in society. I knew which kids in school had more money and which kids had less money.

I have recently instituted a new rule for my business, and it's class based. I will no longer take jobs from people in a certain (high) class bracket. I've instituted this new policy, because I've noticed a certain attitude I just don't want to deal with.

I've also noticed the way people with money talk about money as opposed to the way people without money talk about it.

Personal pet peeve: the term 'working class'. I find this term a 'whitening up' of the term 'poor'. EVERYONE is working class. Unless you're a trust fund baby, retired, whatnot...you're working class. Poor people know they're poor...whether they work or not, they know they're poor. I also think the term 'working class' creates this illusion that the only poor people are the ones who are 'just being lazy on public benefits', which in turn helps feed the bootstraps theory that the quickest way out of poverty is to 'get a job' or 'work more'...which we all know is bullshit. I think the term 'working class' also negates 'the working poor'.

I don't know exactly what you want to talk about, but I think this is a conversation worth having.


Dylan