The relationship between social class and modern liberalism

[All Along The Watchtower]

So I've been thinking about/reading about the link between advanced educational attainment and liberal attitudes, and something that in hindsight, was rather obvious dawned on me:

Having an advanced education is a  big social status/class marker. Therefore, if liberal attitudes are strongly associated with having an advanced education, then it follows that liberalism is associated with being socially and culturally elite.

Compare this to the typical "conservative"/right-winger, who is typically defined more by his/her  income and/or his/her accumulated monetary assets than by his/her education.

Some liberals will say no, they aren't elite, because they don't have particularly high incomes or any accumulated wealth of their own. But social class is not simply about money. It's also about education and culture as well. 

Am I off target here?

[DC Al Fine]

It's silly to study "elites" as a mass political group because there are so few of them. You're still right though. Where liberalism/advanced education dominates is the next step down the status ladder where the professors, activists and other assorted well educated types predominate.

[Beet]

Yes, education is a part of one's class status. However, I feel a lot of people tend to overestimate how important it is. My friend works at a law firm and he says a lot of the socially liberal, economically neoliberal Democrats there identified with the elite because they are law school graduates who earn six figures, all the while not realizing that they aren't really part of the "elite." The true elite is a tiny coterie of individuals, esp. distinguished by markers such as not having to work, or being able to afford a lifestyle that would cause others' security to collapse (for instance, regularly taking certain drugs), or being opinion makers.

[memphis]

People who don't think it's all about money are kidding themselves. I suppose a Starbucks barista with a Masters in Early Modern English Literature may like to think of herself as better than a plumber.  Whatever gets you through the night.

[minionofmidas]

Yes, education is a part of one's class status. However, I feel a lot of people tend to overestimate how important it is. My friend works at a law firm and he says a lot of the socially liberal, economically neoliberal Democrats there identified with the elite because they are law school graduates who earn six figures, all the while not realizing that they aren't really part of the "elite." The true elite is a tiny coterie of individuals, esp. distinguished by markers such as not having to work, or being able to afford a lifestyle that would cause others' security to collapse (for instance, regularly taking certain drugs), or being opinion makers.

People who "work" at a law firm do not have to work.

You'll also be surprised at how easily and how long you get away with drug abuse in highpaying white collar jobs... and yes I mean regular drug abuse. Including heroin.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Yes, education is a part of one's class status. However, I feel a lot of people tend to overestimate how important it is. My friend works at a law firm and he says a lot of the socially liberal, economically neoliberal Democrats there identified with the elite because they are law school graduates who earn six figures, all the while not realizing that they aren't really part of the "elite." The true elite is a tiny coterie of individuals, esp. distinguished by markers such as not having to work, or being able to afford a lifestyle that would cause others' security to collapse (for instance, regularly taking certain drugs), or being opinion makers.

People who "work" at a law firm do not have to work.

You'll also be surprised at how easily and how long you get away with drug abuse in highpaying white collar jobs... and yes I mean regular drug abuse. Including heroin.

I don't think anyone would be surprised by that.

There's also the obvious factor of who can afford such a habit. Does anyone seriously believe a typical regular cocaine user is going to be working at McDonald's or low level retail? Actually I suppose there are many with a Naso-esque worldview who would, but no one with any common sense or math skills.

[opebo]

People who "work" at a law firm do not have to work.

I'm all for the view that the higher you go in the heirarchy from field slave to house 'n****r', the easier the work gets...  however, these middle-status drones do in fact often have to work quite a lot.  Tremendous amounts of hours doing very boring things.  Sure, they may be seated in air-conditioning, and not cleaning a toilet or frying foods, and they are paid relatively better, but, at the end of the day they are utterly exhausted fetching the master's ball, all the same.

[DC Al Fine]

People who don't think it's all about money are kidding themselves. I suppose a Starbucks barista with a Masters in Early Modern English Literature may like to think of herself as better than a plumber.  Whatever gets you through the night.

Joe the plumber makes $150 000
Bob the lawyer makes $120 000

Bob makes 80% of what Joe makes, but he is still higher up on the social ladder.

Money is a big part of the equation, but it isn't everything.

[opebo]

People who don't think it's all about money are kidding themselves. I suppose a Starbucks barista with a Masters in Early Modern English Literature may like to think of herself as better than a plumber.  Whatever gets you through the night.

Joe the plumber makes $150 000
Bob the lawyer makes $120 000

What the heck buddy? They both probably make nothing, being unemployed, or at best $40-50,000.  Your salary expectations are wildly out of sinc with the real world.

[minionofmidas]

Ah, Joe the Plumber is not a plumber but an employer and manager of plumbers.

[pbrower2a]

People who have low incomes for their education are likely to be liberal. Such people may be in jobs with limited opportunity for advancement (research scientists, school teachers). They may be rejects from the American Dream -- the bartender with a Master's in English literature. Who doesn't need a smart, rational person with good work habits for management training? Maybe there is something missing from the profile -- like ruthlessness and crass materialism. So someone with humanistic traits who finds himself shut out because the economic order seems cruel and unwelcoming is unlikely to ever become a conservative supporter of a plutocratic order inconsistent with a liberal education.

Many college graduates find themselves in the sorts of jobs that they could have done just as well with a high school diploma. So it is with receptionists, cleaners, salesclerks, checker-cashiers, waiters, and assembly-line workers with college degrees. Add to that -- they are often heavily in debt for their education. Across time and place, debtors tend to be liberals on economics because opportunities for pay increases (more job opportunities) and even outright inflation can make debt far less a burden. Creditors, even comparatively-small ones, find that inflation degrades the value of a long-term asset. Big creditors might profit greatly from depressed conditions that make a debtor's life harder to escape and easier to exploit. Big landowners with large numbers of serfs or debt-bonded employees are historically among the most reactionary interests in any country.    

In contrast consider people with high incomes for their education. Unless they have ties to liberal organizations such as unions they may consider themselves having everything to lose from higher taxes. One might make more money selling used cars at an unglamorous tote-the-note lot than as a degreed public defender despite being a high-school drop-out. More money for schools? Who needs it? The used-car salesman who can make an upper-middle income by convincing people that a dreadful jalopy is a wonderful car might have nothing to gain from an increase in economic activity.    

[All Along The Watchtower]

People who don't think it's all about money are kidding themselves. I suppose a Starbucks barista with a Masters in Early Modern English Literature may like to think of herself as better than a plumber.  Whatever gets you through the night.

So you don't think education is connected to social class?

[pbrower2a]

People who don't think it's all about money are kidding themselves. I suppose a Starbucks barista with a Masters in Early Modern English Literature may like to think of herself as better than a plumber.  Whatever gets you through the night.

So you don't think education is connected to social class?

Mere possession of huge amounts of cash does not put one in the upper class. An adjunct professor of art history almost certainly is higher on the SES scale than a bookie even though one of them struggles to make ends meet and the other can buy every vulgar status symbol around.

Reality may be that the adjunct professor makes ends meet with a part time job selling cosmetics in a department store and may make more money in six hours of work  on non-teaching days than by teaching one course at a community college... but guess how she identifies herself? If she got a full-time position her only involvement with cosmetics would be as a consumer.

[minionofmidas]

People who don't think it's all about money are kidding themselves. I suppose a Starbucks barista with a Masters in Early Modern English Literature may like to think of herself as better than a plumber.  Whatever gets you through the night.

So you don't think education is connected to social class?

With the modern expansion of university education, a master in literature is no ticket into a higher class (unless you're literally born on Skid Row or something) - as exemplified by this guy working at Starbucks. A Harvard law degree otoh...