how early does class awareness develop

N

nomadologist

Guest
an interesting little article contains the phrase 'the very young, those for whom class has, perhaps, yet to become an issue'

after the oedipal stage, couldn't children at least become aware of class, even if that consciousness is not schismatic enough to become an issue (crappy depoliticizing nothing term)

that insight needn't take long to develop into resentment, although there would probably be a latency period

YES!

Some of my earliest memories are of being called names for being the child of immigrants.

It became an "issue" immediately after I started going to school.
 

swears

preppy-kei
I think it's getting harder and harder to tell what class people actually belong to now, so many middle class people adopt this horseshit blokey, down-to-earth, no-nonsense demeanour, as not to appear wet or snobbish. This play-acting is obviously far more pronounced in school, where people are very anxious to fit in and so unsure of their own identity.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
Yeah, in the U.S., class has a lot to do with "how white is your skin, and if white, how long have you been here?" Other than that there's just a huge sector of what's called the "middle class" that somehow encompasses everyone on the spectrum from coal miners to lawyers.
 

Slothrop

Tight but Polite
This play-acting is obviously far more pronounced in school, where people are very anxious to fit in and so unsure of their own identity.
To be fair, a lot of the time it's barely play acting. You don't come out of the womb with an identity stamped on you and any deviation from that can only be because you're pretending to be something else. Your accents (for instance) gradually aligning with the accents of people you spend a lot time talking to seems to be a pretty natural thing, unless you consciously try to avoid it...

Although yeah, it's kind of noticeable in older kids that a lot of people become a lot more 'well spoken' when they're around their parents than their friends...
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
To be fair, a lot of the time it's barely play acting. You don't come out of the womb with an identity stamped on you and any deviation from that can only be because you're pretending to be something else. Your accents (for instance) gradually aligning with the accents of people you spend a lot time talking to seems to be a pretty natural thing, unless you consciously try to avoid it...

Although yeah, it's kind of noticeable in older kids that a lot of people become a lot more 'well spoken' when they're around their parents than their friends...

My parents have terrible grammar. It drives me crazy. But I think that is a uniquely American affliction, having parents whose speech is less "correct" than yours.
 

swears

preppy-kei
To be fair, a lot of the time it's barely play acting. You don't come out of the womb with an identity stamped on you and any deviation from that can only be because you're pretending to be something else. Your accents (for instance) gradually aligning with the accents of people you spend a lot time talking to seems to be a pretty natural thing, unless you consciously try to avoid it...

Although yeah, it's kind of noticeable in older kids that a lot of people become a lot more 'well spoken' when they're around their parents than their friends...

It goes beyond just faking an accent though, it's the wholesale, self-conscious adoption of an exaggerated "geezer" persona. It's pretty patronising when you think about it.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
It goes beyond just faking an accent though, it's the wholesale, self-conscious adoption of an exaggerated "geezer" persona. It's pretty patronising when you think about it.

. O (what does geezer mean?) O .
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
. O (what does geezer mean?) O .

geezer_butler.jpg
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Yeah, people who confuse "refreshing honesty" with "offensive bluntness" belong in the Does My Head In thread.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
i have no idea who that guy is in the picture.

thanks for clearing that up. i thought it meant like "dude" for some reason...
 

swears

preppy-kei
i have no idea who that guy is in the picture.

thanks for clearing that up. i thought it meant like "dude" for some reason...

Well, it can also just mean "man". Like "There were five geezers at the bus stop." That's more of a southern thing.
 
N

nomadologist

Guest
i have this crazy fear i am going to end up like ozzy osbourne
 
E

Electric Angel

Guest
I'd say an awareness of class differences would develop fairly quickly in a child, I remember going over to friends' houses a child and being amazed that some had a house with no less than three floors and some had a swimming pool and a tennis court as part of their back "garden". Whilst I could very easily attribute this to wealth (more money buys more things) I couldn't really attribute to specifically to class until much later, during secondary school.
 
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