How thick is your bubble?

[rufflesanddots]

38, though I think if it accounted for my job doing WC for the last five years in a Southern state I'd go up a few points. I certainly know more about trucking and mill work now, though I haven't yet been inside a factory.

[Sheherezade]

Kind of a weird quiz. I went through it and didn't select eating at any of the restaurants because we don't eat out much anymore due to my food allergies. I also haven't seen the movies or the TV shows listed within this year because we cut cable and don't really enjoy movies that much these days. My score was a 24. Went back and did it again but this time selected some of the movies, a few of the tv shows and said we'd eaten at Applebee's 3 times and my score went up to a 43.

So, not sure if it's my definition of "sheltered"? Seems like they are talking about cultural experiences like shared tv/movies and chain restaurants more than "life experience". Has that become life experience?


Angie

[ladymoreta]

That's so weird that movies made such a difference! I wonder if that's why my score is so high? That's about all we have to do for date nights around here...

[Sheherezade]

We are looking forward to getting back to movies and mindless tv when the last teen leaves the nest. For now, they kind of dictate our entertainment line up....


Angie

[SoonerTexan]

I don't really understand the movies one but I kind of get the chain restaurants one. Maybe because of that time in college a friend from a very very wealthy community referred to Olive Garden as "lower middle class"
😂


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[MrsK]

I don't really understand the movies one but I kind of get the chain restaurants one. Maybe because of that time in college a friend from a very very wealthy community referred to Olive Garden as "lower middle class"
😂


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I once had a coworker who came from a very lower class background. Going to Red Lobster was a big special once-a-year occasion splurge that required budgeting.

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[SoonerTexan]

We never let her forget it!


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[spotty_dog]

So, not sure if it's my definition of "sheltered"? Seems like they are talking about cultural experiences like shared tv/movies and chain restaurants more than "life experience". Has that become life experience?

I don't think the premise had anything to do with being sheltered or having life experience? "There exists a new upper class that’s completely disconnected from the average American and American culture at large." "The lower, the more insulated you might be from mainstream American culture."

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I don't watch any of those movies and didn't choose a single restaurant either (we rarely rarely eat out and when we do, it's at local ethnic places that are cheap but non chain). So does that make me more elitist? I dont get it. Not going out bc we don't want to spend $$ on those things seems LESS elitist to me (on the premise you can't afford them).

[rufflesanddots]

I think I see what SD is saying. It's not necessarily elitist, but how much your own experience aligns with the vast majority if Americans. I guess the majority frequent chains, watch TV shows regularly, and see movies frequently? It threw me because the first questions seemed to have more to do with socioeconomic status, with the latter questions doing stuff I consider limited due to expense.

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[MAPPLEBUM]

I can see how questions about your neighborhood, poverty, etc. would put you in a socio economic class (duh) but it seems a stretch to include so many questions about movies, dining, and culture. Especially since Cracker Barrel wasn't included in the restaurant list

[rufflesanddots]

Right, but if those restaurants, shows, and movies are considered typical American past times, and you don't partake, that would place you in a bubble, right? Not a "you're a spoiled jerk who doesn't know struggle or isn't aware of your privilege" bubble, just a bubble that sets you aside from common American experiences.

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[MsSassyBaskets]

My results told me that I had the movie and TV habits of an upper-class person. I think because the TV shows listed were mostly shows about educated upper-class people such as Grey's Anatomy or Scandal those choices were meant to target the upper class. Whereas if they had listed shows like Two and a Half Men or Mike & Molly they would be targeting the lower middle class. The same goes for the restaurants. Those are restaurants that are frequented by lower middle-class people, and yes, I would say it's more elitist to go to a local ethnic restaurant then to an Applebees. My in-laws, for example, are decidedly blue-collar middle-class and their favorite restaurant is Applebees and on a special occasion they go to Red Lobster. I'll admit that I turn my nose up at Applebee's. DH had never eaten Thai food until he met me, much less Ethiopian or other less common fare. But he'd been to Applebee's a hundred times. He scored much higher than me on the quiz.

[TulipsAndSunscreen]

I see what you mean about local ethnic restaurants. I wouldn't think super cheap tacos as being elitist but I guess the snubbing of chains is somewhat elitist.

Ironically though, DH's mom cooked ethinc foods (mostly Indian/Middle Eastern) because with cheap lentils and beans, it stretched meals for their family of 8 and required little-to-no expensive meat. But I think he's an outlier because despite growing up below the poverty line, both of his parents are college educated and his dad is an entrepreneur (a so far unsuccessful one...).

[spotty_dog]

Here's an example about the restaurant thing. When I was growing up, Sizzler was a Big Deal family outing. Denny's was also an option. But anything more ethnic than Tex-Mex simply wasn't, and it didn't have anything to do with price, but with culture/acceptability. My parents grew up fairly poor and in the South, and it just wouldn't occur to them to go to Thai or Indian even if it were cheap and available. My first two boyfriends in college had both grown up in middle class or higher families, but MORE significantly, they grew up in Seattle -- a big and very, very bubbly metro area. Both of them took me to ethnic food for a first date without even thinking about it. Totally normal for them. Totally and completely freaked me out. I faked illness to get out of going to Benihana's, trufax.

It's exactly because one thinks that movies aren't entertaining enough, or that cheaper ethnic food is better than spending more at chain restaurants, that we may be isolated from the mainstream, even if those choices make us more financially conservative.

And yes, I feel about as snobbish about Dr. Phil as I do about mass-market beer, even if the main reason I don't watch daytime TV is because I am saving money by not having cable.