All the interesting posts in my blog reader have to do with class this afternoon. I'll sum them up. Maybe by the time I get to the bottom of this post, I'll know how to tie everything together neatly.
In response to the Ladd and Fiske editorial, I wrote that schools can't improve unless a community is employed. In the comment section, I explained further:
While I don't know a lot of people in the gov't definition of poverty, I do know many people who skirt just above that line. The Near-Poverty income group. There was an article in the TImes, I believe, about this demographic a few weeks ago.
There are a lot of families out there, with 2 parents, who mean well, don't have drug addictions, own a home, have a high school education. This group got hit really, really hard in this recession. I've seen quite a number of families where the guy can't find work as a contractor, electrician, carpenter. The wife has to run out and get a secretarial job, and then come home and make dinner. The dad, even though he's home is too depressed to do supervise the kids or do the laundry. (Also, traditional conceptions of women's work.) The stress over paying bills in those situations is horrendous. It has a huge impact on the kids' education. The depression is contagious and brings down a whole town.
If I was looking for an academic publication (not), I think it would be interesting to look at test scores over time in towns that were hit especially hard by the recession.
Megan McArdle responses. She says that job progams or any government program is unlikely to change the outcomes in poor neighborhoods, because of the culture of poverty. While her points may be applicable to those in severe poverty, I don't think she accurately describes the working poor or the Just Above the Poverty Line people.
On the exact opposite end of the income spectrum, we have a couple of posts from Dooce. She wrote a post last week that described her suicidal thoughts. She received some flack from readers who said that she was rich and, therefore, wasn't allowed to feel sad. She responded that even though she was wealthy, she was allowed to feel sad. And her readers were also allowed to have problems, even though they were richer than most of the population in the world.
Maybe the point of this post is that class doesn't matter. The working poor operate pretty much the same way as we do. Same family structure, same values. But because of our education and the resulting careers and greater resources for our children's education, the middle class has greater opportunities. Also, rich people are allowed to complain about life, too, because there is always someone poorer than you.
Apt. 11d 
Same family structure, same values
Would the major differences, then, be based on cultural background in this country? Because I’m not quite sure that the family structure in my family, and the families of my 1st-gen Chinese friends, are quite exactly the same.
(Whether that makes a difference, I don’t know.)
LikeLike
Agree with your comments about Megan McArdle’s post with the “culture of poverty”. That’s what AmyP and I and others were trying to tease out yesterday in the comments. I am starting to wonder if many of the upper/middle classes really understand that there is a huge segment of working poor that in a previous generation would have been middle class?
There is probably always going to be of the population that will need to rely on some sort of government assistance long term but I highly doubt that it’s a huge percentage nor that if but for character issues, they’d be self sufficient (think severely disabled, mentally challenged, structurally poor, etc.). What Laura is trying to get at is that “other” group that are barely hanging on.
And on being wealthy – all things being equal, having more resources is going to make you happier. However, mental illness like depression, etc. is no respecter of persons or social class – the “rain” of depression/anxiety/whatever can hit anyone. All that resources give you (and it’s a big “all” <— more of that privilege) is access to top notch services and the ability to afford treatment.
LikeLike
“Because I’m not quite sure that the family structure in my family, and the families of my 1st-gen Chinese friends, are quite exactly the same.”
Good point. I’d go further and point out that there are lots of differences in family structure even among white nuclear families. For instance, it’s a big difference if your mom and sister live in your town (and are helpful and expect you to help them) versus the upper middle class academic/corporate nomad model where you are far from your roots and often on the move and have to pay for everything in cash. (To be sure, the latter has its compensations–I’m far from my mom and sister, but for the moment, nobody is ever going to ask me to host a massive family Thanksgiving.)
LikeLike
I really struggle with the whole “culture of poverty” thing. Sociologists who study families in ghettos (see “All Our Kin” or “Promises I can Keep.”) have pretty convincingly shown that people in the ghetto make the best and most rational decisions within a structural system that sets them up for failure. If you give people no way to opt into productive society and make their life crushingly miserable with no option for respite, a short a life of crime and drugs suddenly doesn’t look so bad. (Also, if your options are: not working and being really really poor, and working and being really poor, then the lottery or lottery careers like basketball or music or crime-lordism really are the only chance at class mobility, however small that is.) And teenage pregnancy is actually beneficial for girls in ghettos (unlike middle class teen moms, teen moms in ghettos have higher rates of high school graduation, higher employment rates, and are less likely to use drugs or commit crimes). If we eliminated the structural forces (inc. institutional racism) which created a permanent bottom class, I’d imagine many of the people who are “culturally impoverished”
Less scientifically, this has been corroborated by my own experience. I lived briefly in a slum, and at night large crowds of teenagers and young adults would gather at the front of the building. Although it was annoyingly noisy, one thing that was really fascinating to me is that I could overhear conversations, including ones on family and life aspirations. It might surprise Meghan McArdle, but it turns out black teenage boys and girls want to get married and parent children with their spouses just like everyone else does.
LikeLike
“(unlike middle class teen moms, teen moms in ghettos have higher rates of high school graduation, higher employment rates, and are less likely to use drugs or commit crimes).”
That’s unexpected, but makes a lot of sense. On the other hand, is that actual high school graduation, or GED completion?
LikeLike
I feel like dooce became a big blogger because of her reputability and her struggles. she was a pioneer in the blog world and then became a mommy blogger with issues, when no one talked about the darkside of being parent. People loved it, could relate and kept reading.
Then she became a professional blogger and rich and got stuff and advertisers and the relevance and reputability faded. Some, not most, readers resent she got rich off their backs. I will admit it is hard to feel like she is relevant after a 30k living room makeover.
PW is the same…rich chick who got richer. Hence the pioneer woman suxs blogs. Everyone has baggage. I loved her til I could hate her type thing.
Its all a catch 22. Fades and personalities come and go. And they have to work hard to get traffic and keep it.
But people love a burgeoning entrepreneur hate the result type thing.
LikeLike
B.I.,
One of my child behavior gurus is a guy named Howard Glasser. He has a book called “Transforming the Difficult Child,” and he mentions in passing that teenage pregnancy provides structure to children who are desperately seeking structure.
“Children with a high need for structure will continue their quest, finding themselves attracted to the alternative forms of structure available in the community. There are numerous forms of positively structured experiences available in most towns and cities–like team sports, scouting and various interest groups. Unfortunately, children with high needs for structure and tendencies to get attention in negative ways more often seek out the menu of negative types of structure that seem to be found everywhere.
“What drugs, alcohol, gangs, involvement with the juvenile justice system and getting pregnant as a teen have in common is that they are all highly structured experiences. They take over one’s life and dictate the course of the day. They all distinctly limit ones freedom.”
LikeLike
I think many casual discussions of such matters overlook the importance of the extended family in times of stress. Who helps to guide the family when a breadwinner dies or leaves, for example?
The enormous growth in divorce in the last century has also fractured extended family networks. Yes, there are more “blended” families, but I think people are more likely to feel an obligation to blood relatives than to “Joe’s second wife’s stepson.”
In our family, we remember the relatives who made a difference, even several generations back. We still remember, and revere the memory of my great-great uncle, who stepped in to support his sister when her husband couldn’t act as a father. (sidenote: I think he was drafted in WWI, then came back shell-shocked.) This uncle decided where the family would live, how the children would be educated, and found the children their first jobs.
In turn, I know that my grandfather, one of those children, helped his siblings, and their children, when necessary. My parents and I have helped relatives, as well. When times are good, it can be as little as brainstorming career moves. When the worst happens, though, it can make an enormous difference for children for a parent to have someone they can trust to fall back on.
That is one reason why the growth in single parenthood makes it harder for children. An acrimonious divorce tends to divide kinship networks, too. The uncle who can help the overwhelmed mother put food on the table and help the children find employment may not feel the obligation to step in.
LikeLike