tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35248477.post191772124560993087..comments2024-03-27T14:20:05.905-04:00Comments on Montclair SocioBlog: Rich Girls IIJay Livingstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06652075579940313964noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35248477.post-42591588627079084172007-06-19T15:30:00.000-04:002007-06-19T15:30:00.000-04:00Personally, I believe that it's how you raise your...Personally, I believe that it's how you raise your child, the love you give them, the lessons of life that you instill in them, that makes them into good standing citzens...it all starts in the home. One has to have some empathy for someone like P.Hilton..a product of society? who knows...you don't hear about the poor ugly duckling that gets into trouble...media makes $$ selling the rich and famous (and yes, female because sex sells)...and sad to say, society buys into it.<BR/>This is off topic , but have you ever noticed all the junk newspapers at check out counters staring people in the eye? I don't know who buys those papers...all the times i've been in the store I've never seen anyone buy one and yet it's a billion dollar industry.SARAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16709202258084578997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35248477.post-2731728905627826212007-06-19T09:16:00.000-04:002007-06-19T09:16:00.000-04:00"(Are there similar tales about boys? I can’t thin..."(Are there similar tales about boys? I can’t think of any. Rich boys in American stories can be cruel — they can also be helpful — but they seldom corrupt the ordinary boy’s morals as is so common in the fallen-woman stories.)"<BR/><BR/>What about The Great Gatsby, where the simple midwesterner is shocked by the lavishness of the extremely wealthy? While Nick doesn't get drawn into the frenzy of that social scene, some of his friends do.maxlivinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04406921986017961980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35248477.post-75864344237908066812007-06-18T21:27:00.000-04:002007-06-18T21:27:00.000-04:00Daniel, Thanks for this comment. I agree with ev...Daniel,<BR/> Thanks for this comment. I agree with everything you say, and I'm especially intrigued by the idea in the last paragraph. I wonder how we might get data on it.<BR/> <BR/> I'm not sure that "egalitarian ethos" was the precise word I should have used, but I certainly didn't mean to imply that the US was actually more equal. I was referring to US beliefs. <BR/><BR/>A couple of weeks ago I posted some data on ideology and mobility (May 28, 31). As you say, the US has a much more skewed income distribution. It also has somewhat less mobility than many European countries. Yet Americans are more likely than people in those countries to think that their society is the land of opportunity and equality.Jay Livingstonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06652075579940313964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35248477.post-22434337188239309572007-06-18T19:08:00.000-04:002007-06-18T19:08:00.000-04:00Jay--I largely agree with the points that you're m...Jay--<BR/><BR/>I largely agree with the points that you're making in the post. The US certainly places a premium on middle class morals, which results in a great deal of hostility toward both wealth and poverty.<BR/><BR/>However, as a researcher that studies inequality, I wouldn't really describe the US as a country with an egalitarian ethos. At least not one that translates into any sort of political will. We certainly value the middle class, but compared to Western Europe--Britain and Ireland included--we do very little to generate a more egalitarian income distribution. While, ironically enough, the countries with royals do quite a bit (or maybe it's not ironic, and the tradition of noblesse oblige has survived).<BR/><BR/>These policies, in turn, create a much more egalitarian income distribution, and make it a lot easier to like both the wealthy and the poor. There's less social and economic distance between you and them. <BR/><BR/>For example, I have several friends from Norway, and my sense from their stories is that there are fewer visible inequalities. Poverty isn't a real issue, as government transfers provide for you in economic downturns, while growth in jobs is maintained via public employment and active economic policy (granted, some countries have been more successful than others). Wealth does exist, but typically not to the same degree that it does in the US--either in yearly income, or in inherited wealth. There's just a lot less inequality in other affluent countries.<BR/><BR/>Therefore in the US, I'd guess that some of the hostility toward the wealthy and the poor--and the value placed on middle class morals--is a way to deal with just how affluent the top 1% and .1% are, and how poor those in the bottom 20% of the income distribution are in this country. They may be wealthy and successful, but we're raising out kids "the right way". Or conversely, they're poor therefore they're lazy and raising their kids the wrong way (I won't make any arguments as to how prevalent either mindset is, but I've had students offer laziness up as a reason for poverty on multiple occasions).Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01875731085723333346noreply@blogger.com