How Thick Is Your Bubble?
In his forthcoming book, Coming Apart, The State of White America, 1960–2010, Charles Murray writes about the perils of the upper-class elite setting policy that affects regular Americans, with whom these elites have little to nothing in common. Because their bubble is so thick, the elites are vulnerable to making huge policy mistakes, despite their best intentions.
To help you determine how thick your bubble is, Murray has produced a quiz whose score will place you into one of the following categories:
- A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average television and moviegoing habits. Range: 48–99. Typical: 77.
- A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and moviegoing habits. Range: 42–100. Typical: 66.
- A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Range: 11–80. Typical: 33.
- A second- generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot. Range: 0–43. Typical: 9.
- A second- generation (or more) upper-middle-class person with the tele- vision and moviegoing habits of the upper middle class. Range: 0–20.Typical: 2.
Three of the Young Guns crew have thus far taken the quiz, and I was shocked to discover that with my score of 26, I have the biggest bubble. When I protested to the group that Californians need a separate quiz, Meghan Clyne responded, "No, I think that's the point--to live in California (at least, northern California) is to have separated oneself from the mainstream of the rest of the country." Touché.
Take the quiz here (questions begin on page 103), and report back with your score.
- Comment (205)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (8)
Comments:
Oct '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
I got a score of 18. I grew up in Northern California too, but it was a relatively conservative part (for California). Perhaps the low score is because of my age, heh.
Jun '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
I repeat my example from before. San Franciscans from St. Francis Wood basically have nothing in common with San Franciscans from Hunters Point. Forty years ago, they would've read the same Chronicle or Examiner for local news, watched local TV, but they don't even share that experience anymore. News and entertainment is so tailored now. Today, they might cheer for the same pro-sports team, or drive on common streets, but that's the limit of their common experience. The exception might be in an employer/employee relationship, if it's close, but class is often just as much of a barrier there. I'm giving the extreme, but the other levels are just different by degree--not kind.
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
That was fun. I scored 56. My parents are a pastor and teacher, probably at the lower end of middle class. Or how do you say it -- they were very well educated but just didn't make much money. This quiz helped me understand a little bit about how out-of-place I feel in D.C. compared to where I grew up in the Central Valley of California and the foothills of the Rockies in Colorado. Mostly, it made me miss the fishing. And the tremendously interesting people who never went to law school or maybe even college (or maybe even high school!).
May '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
How do people live without pick-up trucks? What do they do?
I live in a bubble, I'm afraid.
Edited on January 28, 2012 at 3:23amRe: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
The problem is that San Franciscans from Hunter Point would even score in the bubble-worthy zone. They don't drive pickup trucks, they don't watch NASCAR, they don't buy Avon products, they live in a metropolitan area, etc etc. Which is why I say Californians need their own quiz!
Sep '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Eugene Volokh (of UCLA Law and The Volokh Conspiracy) posted about this yesterday. He scored a 37--despite having only come to America as a 12-year-old from Russia.
More interesting, though, are some of the comments in the Volokh Conspiracy item--challenging why Murray identifies specific experiences (going fishing, for instance) as being consistent with the mainstream.
I scored a 44--but don't fish, drink beer, or watch NASCAR. After reflecting on some of the criticism of Murray's article, I was reminded of a similar rubric that identified whether you were a conservative or not: do you own a gun (reportedly almost 50% of American households do)? Do you have family connections to farming (family member, cousin, etc. who farms at least part-time)? Are you married? If you answered yes to all three, it was a strong likelihood that you self-identified as a conservative. If you answer no to all three, it was strongly likely that you self-identified as a liberal.
Overall, I think the questions tell us more about Charles Murray than they do about mainstream America.
Edited on January 28, 2012 at 3:13amMay '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
44 but then my wife & I don't drink or smoke (being Evangelical Christians of the straiter variety). And who can remember those Air Force enlisted insignia (unless they served in the Air Force)?
4 of my kids enlisted in the military and undertook pretty blue-collar sorts of specialties, for which I am glad as it teaches them that not everybody works in an air-conditioned office.
Can you count driving a truck the same as working on a factory floor??
Jul '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
72, top that one. Wait, this isn't good is it.
Sep '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Questions I'd ask instead:
Have you or a close friend ever raised livestock to be sold for slaughter (4 points)? Score one point if you have one or more close friends that have raised production animals, three points if you have, and award yourself a bonus point if you have done it more than once.
(Explanation: urbanistas simply have no idea how food gets to their table. It does not come from a factory displayed on styrene foam.)
Stay tuned....
Jun '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Another life-long Northern Californian here, my score: 15.
May '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
37. I grew up in an upper-middle class suburb just outside Houston. My parents both have degrees (though my mom stayed at home), but they come from the Deep South. My grandparents grew up on farms. The Gulf Coast is my cultural home.
I have no idea what Branson is, but I should get points for knowing Buc-ee's!
Jun '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
mesquito: How do people live without pick-up trucks? What do they do?
I live in a bubble, I'm affraid. · 21 minutes ago
We take public transit to our office jobs, is what we do.
Nov '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Fascinating. My score of 39 reflects, I think, the fact that I grew up in the 40's and 50's, when even people who had pretty good jobs often did not have more than a high school education. In my current very liberal and now expensive neighborhood in northern Virginia, I have now and have had elderly neighbors who would score pretty high on the test, I believe, but they held more or less professional, or at least white collar jobs. On the other hand, my children would have very low scores, and if Murray had designed a test in which you remove points for certain kinds of experiences e,g., living abroad, speaking a foreign language, reading serious books, playing in an orchestra, etc., etc., they would probably score below zero.
Sep '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
More questions:
Are you married? Score 2 points if you are; add a bonus point for each decade you have been married to the same person. Score 0 points if you even think "does being married to a person of the same sex counts?"
(Explanation: the vast majority of adults are married. And stay married. Except, seemingly, on television. And Newt.)
Do you give money to a charitable organization (including a church or synagogue) by some means other than a payroll deduction at work? If the answer is no, score 0 points. If the answer is yes, score 2 points.
(Explanation: most Americans do make charitable contributions. Elites, in general, don't.)
Have you volunteered in some capacity for a charitable organization (including your church or synagogue)? Score 1 point if you have volunteered for a church or synagogue in the past year; 2 points if you have volunteered with another charitable organization; add a bonus point if you are an officer in an organization; add another bonus point (maximum of 4) if you are involved in more than one charitable organization.
(Americans volunteer. Not necessarily 30 hours per week--but most people are involved in helping one another.)
Apr '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
Scored 49. Would've scored higher, but I'm LDS (Mormon) so the Evangelicals weren't much interested in being friends with me (though I did have Jewish, Sikh, agnostic, and Wiccan friends), and there weren't a lot of smokers in my circle. Mother was first-generation upper-middle class of working-class stock; father 2nd generation upper-middle. My parents made a point of seeing to it that we were rather "cultured" compared to many of the others around me. Still, I chose to live in small-town Utah, so I got more points for that than my upbringing would have given me.
Jul '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
A solid 64. I come from a long line of working class people in central VA where my generation in the family is the first to have a significant number get college degrees.
May '10
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
24. But if I count the summer I worked retail 27 though I was 19 and nothing hurt. 21 if I discount the neightborhood question as it was grad school and he didn't technically disallow that for #1.
I have to say that I find the poll heartening in terms of the election. There are a lot of people out there that Pauline Kael doesn't know...
Aug '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
66. Parents from rural NH, married as teens, pulled themselves up into the middle class by working hard. Launched me into the Ivy League, but I've kept my working class roots and tastes. My friends still marvel at my bearskin rug (you shot that?) and my wine collection. I straddle all worlds.
Jul '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
49. Worked my way through college cleaning rugs and drapes in a Harlem factory, including dry cleaning oriental rugs using perc. Wife started as a secretary (trained at Wood Secretarial School in NY) and worked her way through the years to network tech. So I'd consider us first-generation upper middle class with middle class parents.
Nov '11
Re: How Thick Is Your Bubble?
I think I scored 54. Both of my grandmothers were born within 35 miles of Branson. I've lived 100% in cities less than 50,000, 73% in areas less than 25,000, and 20% outside of a city just over 1,000. I know the name Jimmie Johnson, but I don't anything about him except his name. I'm not much of a restaurant person though.