Interesting take! The US is a very big place, closer to the European Union than it is generally portrayed. And, within the US, each city is its own complex eco

Interesting take! The US is a very big place, closer to the European Union than it is generally portrayed. And, within the US, each city is its own complex ecosystem (as all cities are). In Baltimore, class boundaries and class-related issues are common discussion points. It is often painted in racial terms (especially to outside audiences), but it's pretty widely acknowledged from the inside that the racial issue is primarily a class issue. I think being a majority-black democratic city helps make this frank acknowledgement possible. Baltimore also has some relatively old (in US terms) institutions that inherit some class politics from "the Old World." There is very much a "Johns Hopkins" subclass with its own rules of aristocracy...along with other institutions founded around the same time like Peabody Conservatory. In part because housing is cheaply available, Baltimore has a thriving arts scene, supported by a number of different colleges and universities, but especially MICA. "The Wire" is a pretty good investigation of the class system in Baltimore in many respects, although I think it's a bit dated now. In particular, the Port City crowd often gets left out of casual conversation, but it's still a powerful force in the city. This is very partial list, just trying to give a sense that there's a lot of awareness and acknowledgement of class within the city. The rules of conduct between the various groups are very, very different. More obviously so than in most other places that I've lived. There is a pretty healthy tech/entrepreneur environment in Baltimore too, that lives sort of at the place where the various class-groups wash into each-other.