We watched a video in class where a woman was looked down upon for leaving her small town to go to college and get a job in the city. In their society, it's thought of as negative to look or act higher class than they grew up, and it's offensive for them to bring that back to their society. She and her dad had nothing in common to talk about.
I think that a mindset like this is a reason that most poor people stay poor. If they aren't encouraged to be better, then many won't. This isn't to say that everyone should reject their childhood, or look down upon their parents or grandparents for not having everything. I'm not really sure where the happy medium should come in, because no way of life, upper or lower class, is perfect.
The negative outlook of moving "up" works the other way too. I have a second cousin who my family says went "frum-" meaning, she became very religious, left her job as a teacher, had 5 kids and is now living with her husband in a poor city in Israel. It's not that my family looks down on her, but most they can't understand why she'd give certain things and amenities up. So its interesting to me that no one is expected to move far away from their economical background.
It is difficult to move up in social class, but I agree with what you said. If everyone in a lower class looks down upon the people in upper classes, how do are they ever going to move up themselves? It's mostly society that doesn't allow social mobility, but I think mentality has a lot to do with it too.
ReplyDeleteYeah that is a good point. It's not worth all the effort to move up in social class if your family is going to practically disown you. In the video there was also an African American family that was middle-class and they said that many other black families criticize them for "acting white". It's kind of the same situation that you're talking about.
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