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I disagree. I think most tech workers identify more with their employers and their class than their own status and that of their colleagues. They’re moving up,

I disagree. I think most tech workers identify more with their employers and their class than their own status and that of their colleagues. They’re moving up, fast, and they’re satisfied with their prospects more than anything they might get from solidarity. In Marxist terms, lumpenproletariat is a close approximation, but a weird accident of history.

t-3 4y ago
That's not strange is it? If you're making 100k+/year, you're well into bourgeois territory, and FAANG benefits are practically near-instant-owner-class. Why would you expect anybody getting that kind of money to identify with the lower classes?
- int_19h 4y ago
  "Bourgeois" is not defined by how much you make per year. It's defined by your relationship to the means of production.
  - t-3 4y ago
    Anyone getting paid 100k+ is also getting stock options.
    - int_19h 4y ago
      Sure, and many people getting less still own stocks via 401(k) etc. The important question is whether a person can live entirely off their rents, or they have to work for someone else for a living.
- eyelidlessness 4y ago
  > That's not strange is it? That depends on your baseline, of course. Or to answer your other question: > Why would you expect anybody getting that kind of money to identify with the lower classes? I don’t expect it, though I do have deep solidarity myself. Because, to return to the middle of your response: > If you're making 100k+/year, you're well into bourgeois territory, and FAANG benefits are practically near-instant-owner-class. I can speak to six figures, and I’m in no way into bourgeois territory. I’m approximately as comfortable as middle class boomers, ie I can make financial decisions to benefit my aging family with some hope I’ll still be comfortable myself. I don’t own anything in the sense meant by “bourgeois” in this context. I may yet, in the sense of a retirement plan. That’s a middle class aspiration. Which, having grown up poor and then broke and then getting by… I recognize very much is still working class. There certainly is a larger segment of the tech work force than the general population which has reason to believe it can cross the bridge from gentry to ownership… but it’s still a minority of us and it’s mostly scraps. I don’t expect most of my colleagues to be comrades, but I certainly don’t agree with their class analysis which you have expressed so clearly.

t-3 4y ago

That's not strange is it? If you're making 100k+/year, you're well into bourgeois territory, and FAANG benefits are practically near-instant-owner-class. Why would you expect anybody getting that kind of money to identify with the lower classes?

int_19h 4y ago
"Bourgeois" is not defined by how much you make per year. It's defined by your relationship to the means of production.
- t-3 4y ago
  Anyone getting paid 100k+ is also getting stock options.
  - int_19h 4y ago
    Sure, and many people getting less still own stocks via 401(k) etc. The important question is whether a person can live entirely off their rents, or they have to work for someone else for a living.
eyelidlessness 4y ago
> That's not strange is it? That depends on your baseline, of course. Or to answer your other question: > Why would you expect anybody getting that kind of money to identify with the lower classes? I don’t expect it, though I do have deep solidarity myself. Because, to return to the middle of your response: > If you're making 100k+/year, you're well into bourgeois territory, and FAANG benefits are practically near-instant-owner-class. I can speak to six figures, and I’m in no way into bourgeois territory. I’m approximately as comfortable as middle class boomers, ie I can make financial decisions to benefit my aging family with some hope I’ll still be comfortable myself. I don’t own anything in the sense meant by “bourgeois” in this context. I may yet, in the sense of a retirement plan. That’s a middle class aspiration. Which, having grown up poor and then broke and then getting by… I recognize very much is still working class. There certainly is a larger segment of the tech work force than the general population which has reason to believe it can cross the bridge from gentry to ownership… but it’s still a minority of us and it’s mostly scraps. I don’t expect most of my colleagues to be comrades, but I certainly don’t agree with their class analysis which you have expressed so clearly.