"SOCIAL CLASS IN AMERICA"

Great Debates
1

Did anyone watch the PBS Documentary Film “People like us:
Social Class in America”?

I am a recently returned native of a Bible Belt City in
the South (Clarksville, Tennessee). Clarksville is five
miles from Fort Campbell Kentucky (Home of the 101st
Airborne). The population here is around 140,000.

I am member of a local internet discussion group. I am
having a debate with one of the members about the social
class WASP.

My position is that there are no WASP’s residing in
Clarksville, Tennessee. My opponent insists that he is a
Privileged WASP in his mid fifties. His demeanor does not
indicate that he is the kind of WASP that was portrayed
in the PBS Documentary Film.

What are the criteria for being classified a WASP?

My thought is that it takes several generations of “passed
down” old money to be in this group. My question is, how
many generations, and how much money? Another question is,
does the money and family have to stay in one location?
For example, if a 21 year old WASP moves to a different
city, will local WASP’s accept him/her? Will they be asking
“who is your family”? Would the young WASP have to give
conclusive evidence as to his/her breeding, or will this be
apparant because of his/her WASP indicators?

Does anyone know the history and origin of this class of
people in the United States, or give me suggestions on how
I would research it. I am guessing I could do this on the
internet, but I need suggestions on the most time efficient
way of approaching it. I usually like to get names of
authors that have written about such subjects, and read
their books, rather than reading articles off the internet.

All this may appear to be a GREAT QUESTION. I disagree, I
think it is a subject that can be debated. As the
Documentary pointed out, there is much confusion as to
which class people think they fit into.

I have read Paul Fussell’s book “CLASS”, and am now reading
his book “BAD OR THE DUMBING OF AMERICA”.

jesse (redneck)

p.s. Is frequent posting on “The Straight Dope” a social
class indicator?

2

WASP = White Anglo-Saxon Protestant

I don’t think that you have to be anything other than a white, anglo-saxon Protestant to be a part of the group.

3

Jesse, I have nothing to say regarding your WASP post. But I’d like to ask you to not post your subject headings in all caps. Thanks.

4

WASP may stand for “White Anglo-Saxon Protestant”, but I think it usually imples a certain class of such people. I mean when we describe people as “Waspy” we have in mind William F. Buckley not Garth Brooks…

I think, in the context of the “East Coast”: New England, New York, New Jersey, and so on, it refers to middle and upper class people whose roots can be traced back to the period before large scale Catholic and mainland European immigration (1840’s?).

5

IF IT’S FREE FORM POETRY SHOULDN’T IT BE IN CAFE SOCIETY ?

6

WHY? isn’t debate all about male POSTuring?

Truthfully, I am not a wannabe poet. I research emotions.
I would respectfully like to know what emotions my redneck
capitalizing of threads has elicited. Is redneck
capitalizing of threads equivalent to a redneck talking
loud and offensively? No, you are not an experimental
subject. Thanks.

jesse

7

Jesse-no, it’s considered shouting, which is rude.

Also, you DON’T have hit enter after each line-just keep typing and let the automatic wrap take care of it.
Thank you, drive through.

8

The series overview is here. The link gives suggestions for further reading. It looks to me like the confusion over the term ‘WASP’ is caused by PBS using WASP to mean rich WASP as the label for a social stratification class based on heritage and money.
As Guinastasia and London_Calling pointed out, pressing <enter> after every line is annoying. It makes your posts resemble bad poetry on many monitors. :slight_smile: