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Snark aside, adopting the culture or behavior of those you aren't intimately exposed to is a legitimate concern. However, if we look at just about any period o
by liber8 13y ago
Snark aside, adopting the culture or behavior of those you aren't intimately exposed to is a legitimate concern. However, if we look at just about any period of history we see that just about every group has been able to do it [not including periods were systematized violence or oppression of minority groups was sanctioned by those in charge].
Traditionally, it was done via military service. In exchange for risking your life, those in power will educate you, give you a set of skills and some discipline, and surround you with people also looking to get ahead. If you wanted your child to have a better life, military enrollment was a good, if risky, way to go. More recently, schools have been the answer. If you wanted your child to succeed, you put an emphasis on education so he could get into the best schools, learn a valuable skill, and be surrounded by those with similar aspirations. I’m sure that going forward, even more and cheaper opportunities will arise based on technology.
If you look just at the United States, nearly every immigrant group has done this. The Irish, Italians, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean immigrants, all of which were at the bottom of the social totem pole at one time, have all adopted the prevalent socioeconomic background of the dominant groups of the time. And they’ve all succeeded to the point where nobody in the United States considers “the Irish” or “the Chinese” to inhabit a separate or distinct socioeconomic subgroup of Americans.
- stdgy 13y agoWhat exactly is the 'socioeconomic background' of the people on top in the United States? I don't intend this to be snark. I'm just not sure such a blanket actually exists. I'd be interested in hearing a description.
- newman314 13y agoI'll just leave this here. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/fashion/02studied.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/02/fashion/02studied.html?_r=...