sorry I just got depressed seeing the headline about working class people every time I logged in.
I would like to know, though, exactly how people in the other thread are accounting for accidents of birth which provide some people with a lot of social advantages, which social advantages would likely account for the vast majority of people who are *not* born working-class being able to achieve more in life (at least in the way the discussion there has measured achievement).
I'm just not finding all the chat about "aspirations" very convincing on a systemic level. aspirations have a lot to do with what you have access to. And "intelligence" as well (measurements of intelligence usually capture a lot that has to do with experience, let alone any inborn ability is affected by one's growth and environment, even in terms of access to protein and such). There are exceptions, of course, but when you are talking about huge numbers of people I see too many material advantages from nutrition to education to having the right accent that smooth a lot of the path for you.
for the highest-achievers, the outliers, the superstars, the geniuses, other things may count in. But in terms of the broad masses of people who end up reasonably successful in life, or don't, i find the arguments around "intelligence" (as measured by IQ) pretty circular.
I would like to know, though, exactly how people in the other thread are accounting for accidents of birth which provide some people with a lot of social advantages, which social advantages would likely account for the vast majority of people who are *not* born working-class being able to achieve more in life (at least in the way the discussion there has measured achievement).
I'm just not finding all the chat about "aspirations" very convincing on a systemic level. aspirations have a lot to do with what you have access to. And "intelligence" as well (measurements of intelligence usually capture a lot that has to do with experience, let alone any inborn ability is affected by one's growth and environment, even in terms of access to protein and such). There are exceptions, of course, but when you are talking about huge numbers of people I see too many material advantages from nutrition to education to having the right accent that smooth a lot of the path for you.
for the highest-achievers, the outliers, the superstars, the geniuses, other things may count in. But in terms of the broad masses of people who end up reasonably successful in life, or don't, i find the arguments around "intelligence" (as measured by IQ) pretty circular.