Do You Live In A Middle Class Bubble? Take The Test

Do not factor in your process of separating cooked pasta from liquid.

charles bloody murray

I scored 11.

An 18. That’s pretty accurate.

57 which is also my age

46 I guess Im trash.

Poll is bullshit. Love DL, but reading the never ending scroll of tiresome commentary, you know that fully half of those who consider themselves "Upper Middle" are answering aspirationally. Half belong squarely in "Middle" to "Lower Middle." But, by all means, lie to yourself.

Yeah, I live in the kind of middle-class bubble commonly known as a "college town".

Even the crappy jobs are held by middle-class college students, there are no wealthy people in town, and hardly any working class. It's as solid a middle-class bubble as there is on this planet.

11–80: A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33.

There is not option for cynical dissipated yet fun loving demi-mondaine

They didn't offer the relevant option for identifying "Branson" in the test.

Also, I knew the answers to some of the questions purely by chance - "Jimmie Johnson" was a random factoid more than anything. The military insignia were from having seen a few TV shows where they always referred to the insignia as a metonymy for the actual rank.

I answered honestly and got 28. I feel like if watching "Maury" had been an option I would have scored higher. I used to love that show (still watch when I can!)

r11 Using the word "metonymy" correctly automatically deducts 100 points.

Somewhat silly questions. Asking about where you grew up, which could be more than 40 years ago versus what's happened since you went to college and your career might separate you from your tract housing start.

I got 34.

20, but I was wrong on the one military insignia I thought I knew.

There's astonishingly so many overlaps with the upper and lower classes though. Common denominator? They both despise the middle class!

I got a 4.

Crappy quiz. I grew up in a borderline wealthy town, in the shadow of a world-class university, but had my "downwardly mobile" years as an adult, and it gave me a high score of 44 because of that.

The thing about social class is that it doesn't directly correlate with income. If a person grows up wealthy and has the mannerisms of the upper class and social connections to upper-class people, even if they lose their money they're still upper class and have some of the social advantages thereof. And if a person grows up in the underclass and is brilliant and high achieving, if they don't drop all the mannerisms and beliefs they learned growing up, they're still perceived as socially inferior. And I, who had my years of being pretty damn poor, was able to come back to a very decent standard of living, largely because I came across as upper middle class.

That's the thing about social class, it sticks.

R14, not really. Your upbringing in the tract home despite your career and college education can never catapult you into the upper class nor sink you into the depths of the lower class echelons. Not even marriage can achieve such a fate.

R19, it is crappy, the quiz, couldn't find a better one. Hope someone else can do a better job and find better more depth reaching online test.

I know I live in a bubble, and didn't need to score 16 to discover that fact. That doesn't mean I don't care about Branson-going domestic-beer-drinking rural folks; I want them to have health coverage, good jobs, and safe communities. They want me to die.

So there is that.

R14 Oh that's silly, and inaccurate.

R22, hit it. Right on. You can find those bitter bitches you speak of on this thread below

[quote][R14], not really. Your upbringing in the tract home despite your career and college education can never catapult you into the upper class nor sink you into the depths of the lower class echelons. Not even marriage can achieve such a fate.

I've read a few articles that support r21's contention.

These articles suggest that it takes two generations for a true change in class: If A makes money and raises his kids in the new environs, A1 will still have residuals from having been reared by A. A1's kids, A2, will be further removed but will still retain some attitudes. A3 would be the first generation to be truly ensconced in the new higher class.

Kind of makes them sound like dogs being bred, but there you have it.

The funniest question in that quiz:

"Have you ever participated in a parade not involving global warming, a war protest or gay rights?"

Here's the updated version of the quiz

Quiz questions don’t apply to me. I am Canadian.

R28 You escaped the USAn obsession with HycainthBucketism?

Here's a really great explanation from that link. Nobody wants to be middle class yet we can't escape them it seems.

We're all good with this one. Slackers! From R30 article.

"The big question for the Upper-uppers is: What now? Their lives are lived day-to-day almost in the same way the lower class' are, since they have essentially no long-term goals. But while the lowers have no goals because they're sure they'll never reach them, Upper-uppers have no goals because fulfilling them is so easy. They display all the decadence, licentiousness and decay one might expect from a group that has no place to go and nothing to strive for."

28 for me.

I got a 60!

I scored a fifty. It's no surprise that most DLers who have responded live in a bubble. That's been obvious from many threads.

20 for me.

52 - pretty average

What does a score of 29 mean?

I can’t figure out how to use the quiz

54- Seems reasonable based on my life experiences. But how does that correlate to actual income. Everyone has a different idea of what middle class is. I am well in the upper 15% of the income distribution. Does that mean I am like a poorer version of the Clampetts, no class but has some money?

I'm a hi tech redneck

I scored a 9

Back in college I took a Greyhound more than 50 miles to visit relatives during a school break. I associate Branson more with Missouri than Richard. Lived in a gentrifying neighborhood that at the time didn't have nearly a majority of college graduates I don't think.

Then there's some who don't really fall into anything on these results. R25 makes a point. A lot of it really is breeding and genetic just like dogs or any being.

I've known a handful of people who completely defy their formative years. Those people were usually adopted at birth or are the product of two black sheep parents or two golden sheep parents. Sometimes a combination of the two types.

I knew a set of siblings who grew up in a trashy dysfunctional home. Lower middle class at best. Yet these two always were the epitome of refinement and fine tastes since toddlers. An aristocratic air about them. Both always a wonderment and despite their beginnings have done quite well for themselves. Enigmas, we thought. They were always ashamed of their parents and actively despised them. Then their mother passed on when they were in their mid thirties. Well, her obituary made the Times. She actually hailed from a line of American blue bloods going back centuries. The mother's parents slid down the scale due to alcoholism and lost their inherited fortune. Her grandparents were the scions for generations of fine high society breeding since colonial days. So yes, it's genetic.

R37 It means "beans don't burn in the kitchen, fish don't burn on the grill" girl

35, which describes me fairly well.

Sometimes class seems to skip a generation. In some people you can just tell they've inherited an inbred finery. There's always clues. Proving my point was those genealogical PBS specials or episodes of Who Do You Think You Are. The celebs featured always shadowed their ancestors in some familiar way. I'm trying to remember examples.

I got a 41, which is pretty accurate. Upper middle class because my parents saved so well and had a bit of money from my grandparents who invested well and made sound career choices.

R38, I couldn't see the response buttons on my iPhone, it works on a computer.

R18 = Hyacinth Bucket.

R18 Do you have a white, executive slim-line telephone?

Thanks, R46

That must be the issue!

I loathe the political term "bubble" or "liberal/middle class bubble", which is meant to dismiss liberals and reinforce the idea that white conservative Christians are the "real America".

It's like "virtue signaling", which is meant to dismiss the very notion that a liberal might be virtuous, good, or well-intentioned, and to reserve "virtue" for conservatives only. As if those fuckers don't virtue-signal every time they use the words "family", "personal responsibility", or "blessed".

From R45. Examples of those ancestry shows recalled would be Vanessa Williams vs. Oprah Winfrey. No surprise there. Brooke Shields vs. Gwyneth Paltrow. Again, no surprise.

15

Was surprised that there wasn't a question about living in Europe for an extended period of time, or at least visiting. Or perhaps Asia too. But I guess that would break the "bubble" aspect of the quiz.

R43 I’m still confused. What does that mean?

I scored 33.

My parents were middle class but raised us in an upper middle class neighborhood.

Always had a knack for perseverance, reading comprehension and ability to focus. Put these skills to work early on writing articles for medical journals, magazines and splicing together genealogical trees. The ancestry gigs of research combined with data entry generated steady income no matter life's circumstances. So much richer though is the massive knowledge that came out of these endeavors. Being privy to collections of data regarding people's ancestors has set my beliefs in stone early on. Following up with recording an entering data from DNA markers just sealed the deal. Physical traits are inherited just as much as personality traits. Our raw selves are merely a blueprint of our ancestors. Sure, some traits are more dominant from sibling to sibling but trust, a peasant is born, not made.

R52 I was waiting for a question like that too. I lived in europe for a year as an exchange student when I was in high school

Why is it that college-educated people whose friends got good grades in high school, avoid buying domestic mass-market beer and have never participated in a July 4th parade, for example, are living in a bubble... but people whose friends “struggled to get Cs,” who only drink Bud, who have never participated in a gay parade aren’t also living in a bubble? What makes my cultural life any less “American” than theirs?

R52, R54 can't count travel abroad because an exchange student isn't tuning their own resources. The teen who visits the family of their immigrant parent to Germany or Greece doesn't count. Being sent by your company who hired you to a satellite office in London, doesn't apply. Enlisted in the military sure as hell doesn't count.

If you've saved on your own as a young independent adult to visit the Louvre as opposed to one who opted for an all inclusive resort at Sandals in Jamaica is a completely different animal. Which is why this option isn't included.

Ahh ok I guess that makes sense. My parents paid for me to go for the year - I was 14 and didn’t use my own money obviously

If you have to ask, R57...

Thank you R60. But if we answer we run the risk of seeming pretentious to know-nothing trolls. So, I'm going to answer R57 because the knowledge we glean from datalounge removes the guilt associated with our love of gossip forums.🌝

Weird questions and dubious results. But more evidence that the US is becoming the class-based system that calls out the myth of the American Dream.

R57, drinking Bud or other domestic beers does NOT make you less of an American. It is quintessentially American. Drinking domestic American beer however does shine like a lighthouse beacon that you lack sophistication and hail from the lower rung of society. Why? Anyone want to explain? It's like sporting footwear (sneakers exempt) made in China. It's like saying "he don't" instead of "he doesn't".

R1 Why would I have a process for that? That's what the help is for.

PS Pasta is for peasants and fatties

I know I've lived in a bubble, but my score of "1" is ridiculous. I think the "1" is because I checked the box for watching "The Martian" in a movie theater.

Always buy American when it is fitting. Beer is not fitting. Don't care if it is a craft microbrewery or Samual Adams. Not our forte. American brands cause gas and bloating. That's where Mexico and Canada come in. They've got us beat in that department. Quite a difference if someone visits and brings a 12 pack of Coronas/Heinekin (euro) than if they walk in with ANY domestic beer. American beer is swill. Our wines, on the other hand, out of California are quite fine. While not French, of course, American wineries beat out Germany, Italy, Spain, Chile and Australia.

Meet anyone out for a drink the first time and they opt for a Bud when Heineken or Corona is available...STRIKE ONE.

Miller Lite is actually a smooth beer. When served cold, it’s the least problematic beer I have found. Not a fan of heavy craft beers.

OP, What is your background? Did you grow up middle class and what class do you consider yourself in now? You definitely lean toward pretentiousness in this thread. Was that learned or an attitude you have had from, say, teenage?

I got a 31 and my familly has been "middle class" with few exceptions for a two hundred years. I guess downward mobility affected my score.

I think what the person above was trying to say is why does the bubble only work one way? Why is the bud light Branson Missouri etc not its own bubble?

Btw I got a 6 - and that was only because my first association was Missouri (even if I’ve heard of both), and I’ve sat thru full eps of Dr Phil and Ellen. Speaking of, was anyone surprised to see Ellen considered so lowbrow?

I got a 2! Guess I need to hang out with the servants more!

I don't mean to be That Guy but I'm surprised so many replied, because OP was one of the racist trolls stirring up shit yesterday and today. You'd think people would have him on ignore, but I guess no one uses the feature?

That would explain a lot, actually.

Or maybe people were like me and saw this thread in the sidebar and clicked it, even though the OP was on ignore. That's why trolls post these fun or gossipy threads, btw -- they know you'll unignore them so you can read what they posted, which means you also unignore their "blacks are all lying scum" posts, too.

What a rich tapestry of culture we have on the Datalounge.

R70, not surprised Ellen is lowbrow. Dr.Phil and Oprah are lowbrow. We've all watched the latter two. The real corundum here is placing Wendy Williams in with this lot. Easy to figure that one out..why Williams would be on that list and 1st to boot but

But which one of these does not belong? Wendy Williams.

I'm R66, R63 and yes, OP.

Here's why. This is how you distinguish the riff raff from the creme.

Williams is a true American. Genuine. She isn't phony Phil or Ellen. There's no faux agenda. She says who she is and makes no pretense. Cream rising to the top and you never feel hoodwinked. A true gem, that one. Any strata of human is gonna get the in-your-face honesty. She is quintessential American realism. Sure her personal life is all wonky right now. Going through a traumatizing hit with mistress having husband's baby. She's a take or leave it genuine article. Big flaw claiming if you watch that show every day as being lowbrow. Nothing could be further than the truth. Don't feel guilty. We all love good gossip from a genuine article.

Agree with the domestic beer full force but I also know better to recognize the real deal to own her brand and that deserves respect unlike the other charlatans mentioned above. Even cops to New Jersey. She's fine.

Anyone else have family branches that would be considered downwardly mobile? Most of the adults in my extended family have college degrees, if not graduate ones. However in a couple of branches there are high school dropouts, as well as families where no one went on to college, though a parent did.

R68, pure genetics. Never gave much thought as I'm the genealogist at R55. I'm R73, proudly identifying myself in other posts.

No pretentiousness? Real deal. Started young. Can provide freaky examples. With my background in family trees and research, data entry into ancestry, fully aware that we couldn't be in the bedrooms of those 300 years ago and trust marriage, birth and death or even family lore. Wise enough to wait for DNA markers to test. So many people were adopted and went to grave never knowing. We weren't in their bedrooms centuries ago or even recently. So waited.

DNA markers, then I went through my ancestry with a fine toothed comb. Blown away! It's all genetic. I'll go into intricate tales probably tomorrow following on this thread. Beyond coincidence. Shocked but not surprised deep down. Like I've always known. The tales I have. Stay tuned.

[quote]... had my "downwardly mobile" years as an adult

Me too, I feel like I’ve let my parents down.

72, nobody is like you. Thanking our ancestors we're not you or remotely like you, envious 'boo 😂

19. Scandal is the only one of the TV shows or movies I watched, and it's only because I knew Kerry Washington when we were younger.

R78 did you go to Spence?

No, r79. I am a man.

I scored 10. Of course I live in a bubble. I want to live in a bubble. I don't have any interest in interacting with or understanding the lowers.

Of course, the annoying baseline assumption here is that a “bubble” is defined in respect to the life of the lowers; that the poor benighted salt of the earth somehow define “real” people. One might just as easily argue that the lowers live in a bubble relative to finer culture. Why not have a quiz testing their understanding of better things to measure the extent of their rube bubbles? How often do they read the Economist? What is their knowledge of classical composers?

Talk about aiming at white liberal guilt.

31, it said my parents were middle and I am upper middle but in reality my parents were upper middle and I am middle (though live above my means)

Apparently 42 IS the answer to everything

This test is for White people and perhaps some Black people who were born a generation or two after the Boomers. The births in our family spanned from 1952 to 1967 as Black males we were taught that no matter what neighborhood we lived in we needed to take care out in the street. Black kids are educated and need to be aware of more things than White children. Also the phenomenon of having "ghetto cousins" or "Jerry Springer" relatives makes you aware of any privilege you may have and the differences between middle class and poor.

So if you are Black and born in the eras before people were calling anything post-racial, you know about poor folks and ghetto folks. For many Black families there is no such thing as a bubble just ask Henry Louis Gates.

Joke: What do you call a Black lawyer? (Black President)

Ans: Nigger

A joke we used to tell each other to remind ourselves, don't get too high on yourself, it can easily come crashing down.

We're not interested in your racial preoccupations R85. Refrain from injecting your legacy onto every single thread here. So tiring. Go chat about that supposed white guy who killed that 7 year old black kid. No one cares about your fantastical grandstanding about black people at the expense of every other race than your own. Enough! Get out of here! Shoo.

I actually pay for my own way in Europe and the other places I've visited. I meet up with friends and family from the U.S. while I travel when possible. Perhaps OP is a troll and stirring up trouble, but this thread has given me something to think about. I do meet various people during my travels, outside of friends and family, and have learned so much about lifestyles and issues that I wasn't exposed to in the U.S. What it boils down to is that each of us probably live in our own bubbles, regardless of "class", and it would do us all good at some point to reach our and connect with people who participate in other "bubbles" to expand our perspectives. We all live on one planet, filled with vast amounts of diversity. So glad I broke my bubble and can participate outside of the small world that I used to live in.

I got 39.

My family was poor but I went to a nice college.

R82 I know and I said this before upthread. And what’s so particularly “American” about that way of life? Why are cultured people considered “less American?” It’s an insult to Americans and the American way of life, is it not? No wonder other countries look down on us.

51 - whatever that indicates

i worked in a factory and walked a factory floor but it was during college for one year and my father and grandfather owned the factory and had about 300 employees.......Im sure I got dinged for that however.