4 ms·

In the UK after the Conservatives came to power in 2010 electing an Old Etonian, I felt culturally there was a shift towards "posh" is good as a signifier of st

In the UK after the Conservatives came to power in 2010 electing an Old Etonian, I felt culturally there was a shift towards "posh" is good as a signifier of status and social power. I feel like in the last 5 years or so it has turned to posh is "uncool". In the US, I feel like they had something similar. Obama was elected in 2008, but some people did have concerns of electing someone unestablished. To assuage these concerns, Obama promoted and kept safe the interests the elite at the time. Not detracting Obama here - that's the position he was in back in 2008 when some would have considered electing a black man to the Office as unthinkable.

ksec 5y ago
Interesting observation.
lupire 5y ago
What president has ever not promoted the elite? Was Jimmy Carter posh? Harry Truman?
- iratic0 5y ago
  As much as Trump is a golden toilet billionaire, and made elites richer, I'd argue he did not promote the elite. In that elite definitely felt less safe in their social position.
iso1631 5y ago
Looking at PMs over the last 50 years Heath, son of carpenter/builder, Scholarship to Oxford Wilson, father was an industrial chemist, scholarship to go to school, bursary to go to university Callaghan, father enlisted man in the Navy, then the coastgard, and died young leaving family relying on charity. Got a place at uni but couldn't afford to go Thatcher, father was a grocer. Got to Oxford on a scholarship, studied Chemistry Major, Parents were in theatre, then ran a garden shop, lived in a rented flat, left school at 16, did a banking correspondence course while failing to get a job as a bus conductor Blair, Father was a university lecturer, went to boarding school at Fettes, took a gap year then did Law at Oxford Blair brought in the posh = good, Champagne Socialists era. It's also what powered Labour - the alliance of the metropolitan left and the working class left (the latter having gone to the tories now) Brown and May had normal backgrounds, but Blair, Cameron and Johnson are very different to Heath, Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Brown and May.
- iratic0 5y ago
  I disagree with the idea that Blair brought in posh = good. To me this feels like a continuation from Thatcher/Major. Just going on personal experience I feel like 'chavs' had social confidence around the early Blair, and tended to be dismissed late Blair/Brown. By the time Cameron was in office I fell like there was an idea that Eton, private school, investment banking, Mayfair = good, or at least this was stronger under Cameron than Blair. It's all flipped now.

ksec 5y ago

Interesting observation.

lupire 5y ago

What president has ever not promoted the elite? Was Jimmy Carter posh? Harry Truman?

iratic0 5y ago
As much as Trump is a golden toilet billionaire, and made elites richer, I'd argue he did not promote the elite. In that elite definitely felt less safe in their social position.

iso1631 5y ago

Looking at PMs over the last 50 years Heath, son of carpenter/builder, Scholarship to Oxford Wilson, father was an industrial chemist, scholarship to go to school, bursary to go to university Callaghan, father enlisted man in the Navy, then the coastgard, and died young leaving family relying on charity. Got a place at uni but couldn't afford to go Thatcher, father was a grocer. Got to Oxford on a scholarship, studied Chemistry Major, Parents were in theatre, then ran a garden shop, lived in a rented flat, left school at 16, did a banking correspondence course while failing to get a job as a bus conductor Blair, Father was a university lecturer, went to boarding school at Fettes, took a gap year then did Law at Oxford Blair brought in the posh = good, Champagne Socialists era. It's also what powered Labour - the alliance of the metropolitan left and the working class left (the latter having gone to the tories now) Brown and May had normal backgrounds, but Blair, Cameron and Johnson are very different to Heath, Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major, Brown and May.

iratic0 5y ago
I disagree with the idea that Blair brought in posh = good. To me this feels like a continuation from Thatcher/Major. Just going on personal experience I feel like 'chavs' had social confidence around the early Blair, and tended to be dismissed late Blair/Brown. By the time Cameron was in office I fell like there was an idea that Eton, private school, investment banking, Mayfair = good, or at least this was stronger under Cameron than Blair. It's all flipped now.