Class has normative power
Redditors on the r/slatestarcodex community were talking about sidrea’s summary of class, so I wanted to jot down some of my own thoughts, and one important dynamic that these discussions miss.
Much of this is excellent, but I have to quibble with the characterization of blue tribe as upper class. It’s true that Trump appeals especially in counties where the opioid epidemic and joblessness are strongest - but it’s also true that the median trump voter is significantly above the median income and republicans are wealthier on average than democrats. They both have claims to be the party of elites, except liberals tend to be academics and journalists with soft power and conservatives tend to be wealthy businessman with all the power that entails.
Yeah but the soft power is what you look up to and what can shame you. I mean a dichotomy between social class and economic class as completely orthogonal things doesn’t work (and neither does separating racial class from the analysis) but if you are simplifying things to that degree, then it’s the social and the intellectual class-aspects that are so good at embarrassing you for pronouncing words incorrectly, being incorrect about basic facts, and having poor moral epistemology. We want to be better at those things and see them in normative terms!
As I’ve said before, I think this is an over-simplification of how the shame dynamic works.
It is true that a room full of swank trendy Dem academics can probably intimidate, and humiliate, a Republican from out in the sticks. “What a moronic racist slob, doesn’t have any real education, doesn’t know what to wear…” And that (to some extent) there’s some actual hierarchy going here, the reverse situation doesn’t have the same kind of effect. (Although, uh, it is worth remembering just how easy it is for a muscly mechanic to cow an egghead nerd, or how Ms. Accomplished Feminist Professor can get antsy around a sufficiently hot stripper…)
It is equally true that a room full of sharp-dressed sharky Republican executives can intimidate, and humiliate, a swank trendy Dem academic. “What a pussy and a loser, doesn’t have any money or any dominant power, doesn’t know wear…” And, again, there is a hierarchy here. The academics can maybe make a lone businessman feel kind of under-educated and behind the times, but ultimately he’s not going to care very much, he has class power over them and not vice versa.
Class is complicated, and the alliances shift around a lot.