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Anyone who quotes the "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" line has never met a working class person. Nobody thinks that. I worked in a plastic factory for te

Anyone who quotes the "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" line has never met a working class person. Nobody thinks that. I worked in a plastic factory for ten years and it's very clear there is no path up from making $45k to anything higher than plant manager. People who are just feeding a grinding machine expect even less. My feeling is that most of my coworkers felt somewhat exploited and envious, but they didn't buy into ideological propaganda. They just don't go socialist, either because they think it's hopeless, or because they want to distinguish themselves from the low-status welfare recipients just below them. It's more ideological people, like me, who absorb the propaganda and actually believe Jeff Bezos deserves it.

feet 4y ago
>distinguish themselves from the low-status welfare recipients That's literally the same concept as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Its all class warfare and the distinction you make is useless in the grand scheme
- Noumenon72 4y ago
  This is rationally protecting what status you do have, not fooling yourself into believing you are much higher status than you appear. This is normal behavior you can see discussed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling. The embarrassed millionaires theory infantilizes working-class people with a false-consciousness argument that doesn't seem to understand that class warfare has gradations other than "rich" and "poor".
  - feet 4y ago
    Distinguishing yourself as being in a separate class from someone else has nothing to do with preserving anything, that sounds like absolute nonsense to me. Its some classiest BS designed to keep the poor working class fighting each other
    - Noumenon72 4y ago
      Among the things you preserve by making sure you are not mistaken for a lower social class are: * whether people invite you to social events * how people treat you when you ask for help * what kind of sex partners you have access to * your own perception of yourself as worthy and accomplished It's not an economic class thing, it's a social class thing and would exist even if everyone had the exact same income. Meanwhile reaching for millionaire status when you don't really have it is stressful. Other people will push you back down and you have to fake a lot of behaviors you don't really know how to use. So people generally accept their level instead of identifying with a higher class. This is true in theory and also when you actually talk to them.

feet 4y ago

>distinguish themselves from the low-status welfare recipients That's literally the same concept as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. Its all class warfare and the distinction you make is useless in the grand scheme

Noumenon72 4y ago
This is rationally protecting what status you do have, not fooling yourself into believing you are much higher status than you appear. This is normal behavior you can see discussed at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersignaling. The embarrassed millionaires theory infantilizes working-class people with a false-consciousness argument that doesn't seem to understand that class warfare has gradations other than "rich" and "poor".
- feet 4y ago
  Distinguishing yourself as being in a separate class from someone else has nothing to do with preserving anything, that sounds like absolute nonsense to me. Its some classiest BS designed to keep the poor working class fighting each other
  - Noumenon72 4y ago
    Among the things you preserve by making sure you are not mistaken for a lower social class are: * whether people invite you to social events * how people treat you when you ask for help * what kind of sex partners you have access to * your own perception of yourself as worthy and accomplished It's not an economic class thing, it's a social class thing and would exist even if everyone had the exact same income. Meanwhile reaching for millionaire status when you don't really have it is stressful. Other people will push you back down and you have to fake a lot of behaviors you don't really know how to use. So people generally accept their level instead of identifying with a higher class. This is true in theory and also when you actually talk to them.