Do you have bizarre class biases about certain behaviors? By this, I mean are there things about which you have a learned revulsion based on their association in your mind with a social class of which you are not (or do not wish to be) a part? I sometimes find myself struggling with a tiny voice, no doubt created by a sense of financial insecurity during my developing years, that screeches, "don't do that! Only
poor people do that!" Things my brain was trained to think middle-class people do not do (many of which are Houston-specific and/or wrong):
- Put beans in chili
- Make sandwiches from bread heels
- Ride the bus
- Live in an apartment
Am I alone in this?
UPDATE: Jacob Levy
gets it: "it's not about not *looking* poor, but about not *feeling* poor to myself." Nobody may see you make your bread-heel sandwich, but you know.
UPDATE II: If you came away from this post thinking that I hate poor people, you need to read
this follow-up.
