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"I suppose I always knew America would eventually break the planet, like some ghastly, hyperactive toddler that gets hold of a mobile phone and then smashes it repeatedly against the edge of a table". Quote from british journalist.

Class divide starts early


Social sites reveal class divide

Teenage users of social sites have very different aspirations

Fans of MySpace and Facebook are divided by much more than which music they like, suggests a study.
A long-term research project has revealed a sharp division along class lines among the American teenagers flocking to the social network sites.
The research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college.
By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.
Site-seeing
The conclusions are based on interviews with many teenage users of the social networking sites by PhD student Danah Boyd from the School of Information Sciences at UC Berkeley.
In a preliminary draft of the research, Ms Boyd said defining "class" in the US was difficult because, unlike many other nations, it did not map directly to income.
Instead, she said, class in the US was more about social life and networks - how people define themselves and who they define themselves with.
"Social networks are strongly connected to geography, race, and religion; these are also huge factors in lifestyle divisions and thus 'class'," she wrote.
Broadly, Ms Boyd found Facebook users tend to be white and come from families who are keen for children to get the most out of school and go on to college.
This division is just another way in which technology is mirroring societal values


Danah Boyd

Characterising Facebook users she said: "They are in honors classes, looking forward to the prom, and live in a world dictated by after school activities."
By contrast, the average MySpace teenager tends to come from families where parents did not go to college, she said.
Ms Boyd also found far more teens from immigrant, Latino and Hispanic families on MySpace as well as many others who are not part of the "dominant high school popularity paradigm".
"MySpace has most of the kids who are socially ostracised at school because they are geeks, freaks, or queers," she said.
Teenage users of both sites have very strong opinions about the social network they do not use, she noted.
Ms Boyd was wary of drawing too many conclusions from her research and calling Myspace "bad" or Facebook "good" or condemning social networks out of hand.
She wrote: "This division is just another way in which technology is mirroring societal values." In some ways, Ms Boyd wrote, social networking sites are helping teenagers cope with the stresses of 21st Century life. "Teens are using social network sites to build community and connect with their peers," she said. "And through it, they are showcasing all of the good, bad, and ugly of today's teen life."

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"I suppose I always knew America would eventually break the planet, like some ghastly, hyperactive toddler that gets hold of a mobile phone and then smashes it repeatedly against the edge of a table". Quote from british journalist.

And now for some common sense.

nvestigating whether she could lead a sustainable lifestyle on $6 or $7 per hour, political essayist Barbara Ehrenreich worked as a house cleaner, waitress and Wal-Mart salesperson, among other low-wage careers, between 1998 and 2000. Unable to afford a residence in a trailer park working at these jobs, Ehrenreich lived in a residential motel for part of the experiment, where she saw families living in one room with a queen bed, but no window shades, tables or refrigerators. Her employers required her to take drug tests, which Ehrenreich called “a little ritual of humiliation.”
Those experiences became the basis of Ehrenreich’s 2001 bestseller, “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.” Ehrenreich delivered a related speech on the theme of “The Class Divide” on Monday night in Cook Auditorium, as the Dartmouth College Ethics Institute’s Dorsett Fellow for 2008.
Laziness or other personality flaws are not responsible for a person’s poverty, Ehrenreich argued in her lecture. Instead, she said, poverty is the product of inadequate wages.
“Poverty is not a problem of lifestyle,” Ehrenreich said. “Poverty is basically a shortage of money.”
Speaking about the low-wage job market, Ehrenreich said, “It has come to resemble a third-world country, and I don’t say this lightly.”
Ehrenreich interspersed such statements with humor, brightening the mood in the hall. At one point she recalled how her education and previous career experiences were worthless when she applied for low-wage jobs.
“I never saw a ‘Help Wanted’ ad for a sarcastic, feminist political essayist,” Ehrenreich said.
Ehrenreich applied her personal observations as a low-wage worker to the state of American society in general, juxtaposing the conditions of the working poor against the opulence of America’s richest citizens. This contrast represents an economic and moral crisis, she said.
Appraising present U.S .economic and anti-poverty policy, Ehrenreich said that the Bush administration misunderstands poverty’s causes. President George W. Bush’s anti-poverty policy, she said, could be summarized in one word: “marriage.”
The Administration also underestimates the severity of the consequences of insufficient wages, Ehrenreich said, asserting that the official poverty level does not reflect real social conditions. Ehrenreich referenced the recent sub-prime mortgage lending crisis, which she linked directly to poverty, as another failure of the U.S. economy.
“Easy credit is our economy’s substitute for decent wages,” Ehrenreich said.
Ehrenreich said people who earn wages too low to be practical actually donate their labor to society’s more affluent members.
“It is time to end the involuntary philanthropy of America’s working people,” she said.
Congress could help remedy the situation, Ehrenreich said, by passing a stimulus package to boost services like the allotment of food stamps. Ehrenreich said the nation may need to generate private and public jobs that pay a living wage. In the longer term, Ehrenreich said the nation also needs universal health insurance and subsidized housing and childcare. Ehrenreich recommended the institution of a progressive income tax and ending the war in Iraq to pay for those plans.
Timothy Duggan, an assistant director of Collis and student activities, said he thinks Ehrenreich’s policy ideas may not be feasible, but agreed with her overall message.
“Right now, she’s going head-to-head with an economist, and she might not win that battle,” Duggan said. “But she’s right on her point that we have to have compassion.”
TheDartmouth.com | Ehrenreich explores poverty, class divide

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"I suppose I always knew America would eventually break the planet, like some ghastly, hyperactive toddler that gets hold of a mobile phone and then smashes it repeatedly against the edge of a table". Quote from british journalist.

So, the answer to solving poverty is to make our progressive tax system more progressive?

Why not just post excerpts from the writtings of Marx and get it over with?

Vi

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Damned right I'm an equal opportunity offender, I'm a Conservative!

When a larger percentage of my income is taxed than Warren Buffet's, is it really progressive?

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It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. Einstein

What is your tax bracket ... and what is Buffet's?

What are you doing to shelter your income ... and what is Buffet doing?

With the Fair Tax, neither one of you would have to worry about an income tax ever again.

Vi

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Damned right I'm an equal opportunity offender, I'm a Conservative!

Most of Buffet's income is derived from capital gains. Since he has a lower MPC than me, a larger percentage of my income would still be taxed through a strict consumption tax. That doesn't sound highly progressive either.

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It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. Einstein

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The privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it. United State Constitution, Art. I Sec. 9 Par. 2

"Dissent is the Highest form of Patriotism" -- Howard Zinn

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"I suppose I always knew America would eventually break the planet, like some ghastly, hyperactive toddler that gets hold of a mobile phone and then smashes it repeatedly against the edge of a table". Quote from british journalist.

I live in the poor side of town, but have plenty of money to stop renting and buy a house on the rich side of town, why do i stay, this is the class I was brought up in and I don't like feeling outta place, and most people that feel their doing good love to brag not me I stay in my head and don't lay My problems or accomplishments on everyone else, so I stay where I feel comfortable with all the other druggies.

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Remember, Stupid Hurts!