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Help out a poor, ignorant American: what's a "social class"? One of the Gazillionaires mentions that "everyone in his social class" lost someone they knew in th

by bediger 16y ago

Help out a poor, ignorant American: what's a "social class"? One of the Gazillionaires mentions that "everyone in his social class" lost someone they knew in the Mumbai terrorist attack. In 25 words or less, what's a "social class"?

gnufied 16y ago
The people of similar income, taste and values as the guy quoted in the article.
- bediger 16y ago
  So, if you obtain enough money, and at least profess the same taste in canape's and worker relations, you can be one of the new asian aristocracy? Or is there an ethnic or length of wealthiness component? Like the "old money" vs "new money" distinction made in the US east coast in the late 1880s?
  - alnayyir 16y ago
    The only old money in India are the Brahmin and descendants of royalty, and even the Brahmin have to work for a living. The dichotomy doesn't likely have a lot of meaning there. Virtually everyone or their direct ancestors earned their wealth in China and India, honestly or otherwise. A social class is a cross-section of the population that shares an economic banding and cultural values. That is, yuppies (middle-upper class professionals, frequently white or asian in the US), the working rich (MBA grads and entrepreneurs that built their wealth and frequently must continue working in order to maintain their status). How old are you?
    - mdwrigh2 16y ago
      Do most people really consider those with MBAs to be the "working rich"? Or are you conflating those with MBAs and successful businessmen?
      - alnayyir 16y ago
        Not conflation, just cherry-picking the vehicle for the top quartile of MBAs to become wealthy businesspeople without necessarily being entrepreneurs. I know plenty of MBAs that make less money than me but that actually drops them into the yuppie category. You'll notice that the specific category was "working rich". Corporate CEOs generally lose access to a lot of their income and wealth building avenues when they stop working, even if it scarcely means anything to their quality of life. I don't consider my hackernews commentary to be research-grade so you'll excuse me if my precision isn't turned up to 11. I use shortcuts. I trust the community here to be competent enough to know what I mean without some kind of pedant-autistic nitpicker harassing me every single bloody time I'm even slightly imprecise in discussing a subject in a way that isn't even remotely important. I am exhausted with that tendency here.
        mdwrigh2 16y ago
        I'm sorry, my wording was pretty poor there. What I was really attempting to ask was whether most people consider MBA grads to be "rich", not accuse _you_ of conflating the two terms.
        alnayyir 16y ago
        I misunderstood then, sorry, but I've had a stream of nothing but nitpicking from the community lately. The answer to your question is, "it depends". It depends on their socioeconomic class and how many MBAs they know. It might also depend on how much class/profession specific resentment they feel towards MBA holders. The poor are going to universally consider anyone with a business-oriented graduate degree to be rich, to a fault. There's little deviation you're going to find there unless you encounter the occasional circumspect/self-educated exception. The middle class would probably vary wildly, depending on who they associated with. (A lot of the middle class don't associate with people of their exact quintile, so a lot of it's going to depend on whether they're looking up or down.) No hard answers for you though.
        hugh3 16y ago
        I trust the community here to be competent enough to know what I mean without some kind of pedant-autistic nitpicker harassing me every single bloody time I'm even slightly imprecise in discussing a subject in a way that isn't even remotely important. I am exhausted with that tendency here. Well said.
  - gnufied 16y ago
    There isn't any ethnic component to it, I can tell you that. Wealth is obviously a factor, but it isn't exclusive.
retube 16y ago
Oh come on, I know everyone in the US is judged by where they're going, not where they're from, but you do have the concept of working and middle classes right?
- bediger 16y ago
  Not so much. Almost everyone claims to be "middle class", the definition is so vague as to be meaningless. People who are obviously very, very well off claim middle class status. Only a very few would claim "working class" status, and typically, that's claimed for ideological reasons, not actual tradesman or craftsman membership.
  - hugh3 16y ago
    ... but you obviously understand the concept then, and that it may apply more readily to India?
    - noblethrasher 16y ago
      I think he was wondering what the concept means to Indians since the referenced phrase is not at all idiomatic for U.S. English. Upon my initial reading, I wondered whether or not it referred to a caste.
      - bediger 16y ago
        Thank you! That clarifies what I meant, as I was indeed struck by the "social class" phrase as out of place or something.
RickHull 16y ago
> In 25 words or less, what's a "social class"? Your social class is defined by the people you associate with, typically in terms of wealth and culture. Some people do not have a well-defined social class. Others may associate only with financial and cultural elites, etc. etc.

by bediger 16y ago

gnufied 16y ago

The people of similar income, taste and values as the guy quoted in the article.

bediger 16y ago
So, if you obtain enough money, and at least profess the same taste in canape's and worker relations, you can be one of the new asian aristocracy? Or is there an ethnic or length of wealthiness component? Like the "old money" vs "new money" distinction made in the US east coast in the late 1880s?
- alnayyir 16y ago
  The only old money in India are the Brahmin and descendants of royalty, and even the Brahmin have to work for a living. The dichotomy doesn't likely have a lot of meaning there. Virtually everyone or their direct ancestors earned their wealth in China and India, honestly or otherwise. A social class is a cross-section of the population that shares an economic banding and cultural values. That is, yuppies (middle-upper class professionals, frequently white or asian in the US), the working rich (MBA grads and entrepreneurs that built their wealth and frequently must continue working in order to maintain their status). How old are you?
  - mdwrigh2 16y ago
    Do most people really consider those with MBAs to be the "working rich"? Or are you conflating those with MBAs and successful businessmen?
    - alnayyir 16y ago
      Not conflation, just cherry-picking the vehicle for the top quartile of MBAs to become wealthy businesspeople without necessarily being entrepreneurs. I know plenty of MBAs that make less money than me but that actually drops them into the yuppie category. You'll notice that the specific category was "working rich". Corporate CEOs generally lose access to a lot of their income and wealth building avenues when they stop working, even if it scarcely means anything to their quality of life. I don't consider my hackernews commentary to be research-grade so you'll excuse me if my precision isn't turned up to 11. I use shortcuts. I trust the community here to be competent enough to know what I mean without some kind of pedant-autistic nitpicker harassing me every single bloody time I'm even slightly imprecise in discussing a subject in a way that isn't even remotely important. I am exhausted with that tendency here.
      - mdwrigh2 16y ago
        I'm sorry, my wording was pretty poor there. What I was really attempting to ask was whether most people consider MBA grads to be "rich", not accuse _you_ of conflating the two terms.
        alnayyir 16y ago
        I misunderstood then, sorry, but I've had a stream of nothing but nitpicking from the community lately. The answer to your question is, "it depends". It depends on their socioeconomic class and how many MBAs they know. It might also depend on how much class/profession specific resentment they feel towards MBA holders. The poor are going to universally consider anyone with a business-oriented graduate degree to be rich, to a fault. There's little deviation you're going to find there unless you encounter the occasional circumspect/self-educated exception. The middle class would probably vary wildly, depending on who they associated with. (A lot of the middle class don't associate with people of their exact quintile, so a lot of it's going to depend on whether they're looking up or down.) No hard answers for you though.
      - hugh3 16y ago
        I trust the community here to be competent enough to know what I mean without some kind of pedant-autistic nitpicker harassing me every single bloody time I'm even slightly imprecise in discussing a subject in a way that isn't even remotely important. I am exhausted with that tendency here. Well said.
- gnufied 16y ago
  There isn't any ethnic component to it, I can tell you that. Wealth is obviously a factor, but it isn't exclusive.

retube 16y ago

Oh come on, I know everyone in the US is judged by where they're going, not where they're from, but you do have the concept of working and middle classes right?

bediger 16y ago
Not so much. Almost everyone claims to be "middle class", the definition is so vague as to be meaningless. People who are obviously very, very well off claim middle class status. Only a very few would claim "working class" status, and typically, that's claimed for ideological reasons, not actual tradesman or craftsman membership.
- hugh3 16y ago
  ... but you obviously understand the concept then, and that it may apply more readily to India?
  - noblethrasher 16y ago
    I think he was wondering what the concept means to Indians since the referenced phrase is not at all idiomatic for U.S. English. Upon my initial reading, I wondered whether or not it referred to a caste.
    - bediger 16y ago
      Thank you! That clarifies what I meant, as I was indeed struck by the "social class" phrase as out of place or something.

RickHull 16y ago

> In 25 words or less, what's a "social class"? Your social class is defined by the people you associate with, typically in terms of wealth and culture. Some people do not have a well-defined social class. Others may associate only with financial and cultural elites, etc. etc.