I should probably have mentioned that my aunt comes from working class roots (dirt poor actually - her father barely had any money half the time and they were living hand to mouth literally - so I'd say lower class) and has worked amongst blue collar and working class people all of her life in the Pennsylvania mining community (Poconos and Blue Ridge Mountains) - this area is in some respects as poor as Applachia (due to the lack of jobs when the mining industry shut down) and the school districts, while better than when I was a kid...not a great deal better. She has relatively little experience with upper class or middle. And tends to romanticize them a bit.
I've seen this happen a lot - people from the upper class who romanticize the working class and people from the lower class who romanticize the upper. Then of course there's the groups who demonize the opposite class.
All are guilty of the same thing - making broad generalizations based on their own limited range of experience.
(shrugs)
And yes, you are correct it is a variant on the assumption that spousal abuse happens only in the lower classes. I know for a fact that that is so not true. I know of a woman who had to flee her abusive husband, the woman was a ob-gyn, top of her field, and her husband a leading neurologist, also top of his field. And she was afraid for her life.
Moral: be very careful about making assumptions without all the information...
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-10-18 10:44 pm (UTC)I've seen this happen a lot - people from the upper class who romanticize the working class and people from the lower class who romanticize the upper. Then of course there's the groups who demonize the opposite class.
All are guilty of the same thing - making broad generalizations based on their own limited range of experience.
(shrugs)
And yes, you are correct it is a variant on the assumption that spousal abuse happens only in the lower classes. I know for a fact that that is so not true. I know of a woman who had to flee her abusive husband, the woman was a ob-gyn, top of her field, and her husband a leading neurologist, also top of his field. And she was afraid for her life.
Moral: be very careful about making assumptions without all the information...