Do you live in a bubble?

[rugbywife]

A friend of mine who lives in the US posted this, I thought it was interesting, even though it was a bit harder for me to answer as a Canadian.  I only scored 16. 

www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/do-you-live-in-a-bubble-a-quiz-2/#.VviddOu6BQo.facebook

edit: I thought it was interesting that the some of content of the article focused on "white Americans".  I am not sure what to make of that. 

[brooklyn]

I got a 15.

[qcinoct]

39. My blue collar lower middle class upbringing gave me some extra points

[expectantsteelerfan]

That was interesting. I got a 43.

[niq]

Just FYI, Charles Murray is the author of noted racist BS "The Bell Curve" and a more recent piece of BS about working class white people* now that the white working isn't actually doing much better than people of color**. There is a kernel of truth behind the particular idea of "bubble" here, but it's not really a great measure of it.

I have more to say but I'm on my phone.

* But really, working class white people living in parts of the country where there are not very many of professional class white people. Which is oddly specific.
**As measured by some things, like income growth, marriage rates, I think he looks at rates of drug addiction, etc. Some things, like "who gets shot by police", it's still, depressingly, much better to be white even without a degree.


ETA argh, I hope I didn't butcher that too badly.

[Deleted]

71

[rugbywife]

Sept 5, 2016 18:34:22 GMT -5 niq said:

Just FYI, Charles Murray is the author of noted racist BS "The Bell Curve" and a more recent piece of BS about working class white people* now that the white working isn't actually doing much better than people of color. There is a kernel of truth behind the particular idea of "bubble" here, but it's not really a great measure of it.

I have more to say but I'm on my phone.

* But really, working class white people living in parts of the country where there are not very many of professional class white people. Which is oddly specific.

Ok, so that was the 'background' I needed...there was something in the wording of the article content that made me pause, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I felt like it was interesting that there was an entire questionnaire about living in a bubble, but nothing about race, because based on conversations had here, that would also be a really significant indicator. 

[CheeringCharm]

25

[hermione]

46

[cjeanette]

36. The fishing question confused me. What would fishing have to do with a bubble?

[genet313]

i got a 26. Not exactly a surprise.

[lauralala]

I remember seeing this on CEP earlier this year. I got a 37. I am surrounded by people without college degrees, DH fishes and drives a truck, and I worked retail for years, which led to aching feet. It is interesting that you seem to need to watch TV more to score much higher than that.

[JRo]

I think this may have been posted/discussed on CEP before; I definitely remember taking it.

I got 54, primarily due to being from a small town with working class parents. I don't like this quiz's definition of "bubble".

[bex]

16. Lol.

[dcn]

45

[undecidedowl]

32, it doesn't feel right though.

[usuallylurking]

67.

[CheeringCharm]

Sept 5, 2016 18:42:40 GMT -5 JRo said:

I think this may have been posted/discussed on CEP before; I definitely remember taking it.

I got 54, primarily due to being from a small town with working class parents. I don't like this quiz's definition of "bubble".

Same. I understand the general point (I know I do live in an economic bubble and posting on here probably enhances it) but at the same time, a lot of these questions seem to be more about stereotypes about different groups of white people than anything else (again with the privileging of white culture as "mainstream America" or "real America"). The questions are oddly specific as well. I haven't eaten at Applebee's or any of the other restaurants listed but I have at other chains, including McDonald's for example. What's the difference?

[Deleted]

This "poll" struck me as very "did you grow up in/do you live in suburban/rural blue collar white America"

[sparkythelawyer]

I dont even need to take the survey to know i do. I live a block from the Wheaton College dorms. THAT Wheaton College.

[CloudBee]

46

[Jalapeñomel]

56

[IrishBelle]

As a Canadian, some of the questions really didn't apply but I got a 41.

I'm sure my blue-collar parents and growing up in a rural area contributed to that.

[Deleted]

31. My dad was a labor union organizer. We who loved fishing & owned a pickup.

My H bought a pickup last year. My H is obsessed with Big Bang Theory.

I work in academia & am more " blue collar" than most people I know.

[yellowbrkrd]

43

[ssmjlm]

49

[Susie]

29. But I think I probably live even more in a bubble than my score would suggest.

The fact that I associate "Branson" with the country music focused city in Missouri instead of Richard Branson because I once got a postcard from my grandfather when he traveled through there, and that I've fished within the last year, doesn't do much to diminish the bubble I live my day to day life in.

[magpie]

33. Definitely measures a very specific bubble, though it does make me think about my limited experiences. Besides, wouldn't the small town, working class experience be its own bubble too?

[VillainV]

I got a 57, but most of that I'm sure is because of being in the military. Most people equate being in the military with being working class/blue collar, and my job isn't. I think this makes my score artificially high. "48–99: A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average television and movie going habits." I mean, "average television and moviegoing habits" sounds about right, but I am not a lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood. In fact, I've never lived in a working-class neighborhood.

I'm not saying I'm proud of living in a bubble, or trying to brag about my background. I just think this "quiz" has lots of inaccuracies and holes in it.

[spunkarella]

I don't like how the quiz seems to suggest that "real America" is rural, working class, uneducated. It sounds Fox newsy to me. Like the kind of America that Trump thinks is so great. I also found the lack of race as a factor to be very odd, niq thanks for the background info.

Can't someone just as easily grow up in a rural bubble and never be exposed to different cultures, foods, professions, ideas? I don't understand how that's less of a bubble.

ETA: I got a 55, mostly from growing up in a poor rural area. My first "job" was working under the table at a sewing factory while my grandma was babysitting me. Too young to be home alone, old enough to work an embroidery machine.