Comments | disblfsuspender: Luxury Meme

disblfsuspender

Luxury Meme

Apr 12, 2006 21:07

This is kind of an interesting exercise, as I've been exposed to a kind of constant low-level discomfort by the upscale(albeit mostly in a classy way) lifestyle and upbringing that most of my peers out here are accustomed to. I never felt "working class"(actually, I was never very aware of class as a component of my identity at all) until I moved ( Read more... )

Comments 4

kazulrw April 13 2006, 11:38:59 UTC

really? I counted 19 checks on your list, which puts you about in the middle of the distribution of people who've done this on myh friendlist so far. not that I think you're spoiled by any means, but you don't seem abnormally penny-pinchy compared to the rest of our internet peer group.

disblfsuspender April 13 2006, 16:42:42 UTC

Well, that's part of why I thought it would be an interesting exercise, to see if my perception matched up with reality. I also think some of the things they list as luxuries are kind of questionable, and that they omit lots of things that I would consider luxuries, and, well, I also didn't really read the survey very well before I took it.

That said, I think my discomfort comes down more to cultural than to financial issues. I still spend a decent amount of money on non-necessities, it's just that I spend it on different non-necessities than most of my peers here.

moireach April 13 2006, 15:05:58 UTC

until I moved to the East Coast, where seemingly everyone I meet eats organic, played 2 or more instruments growing up, has taste in wine and cheese and every international cuisine under the sun, and has mega-expensive hobbies like skiing and biking

I'd definitely say this isn't so much a regional thing as a class thing. There are tons of people in Mass. (several of whom I'm related to!) who don't have that kind of lifestyle at all. Or it's regional inasmuch as you're living in the Cambridge area, which definitely has a higher percentage of highly educated, high income people who've chosen to live in a city like Boston because of those values.

disblfsuspender April 13 2006, 16:38:02 UTC

That's partly it, though I've never felt so unheimlich in Chicago or St. Louis, and really don't feel nearly so out of place even in New York. I definitely did feel that way visiting college friends in the ritzier Chicago suburbs, but in a different, more contemptuous way(McMansions, SUV fleets, etc ( ... )