The Two Faces of Class
Tensions between the classes are at an all time high, or so declares this article from Time magazine. The piece is based on a recent Pew study in which 66 percent of respondents said that they "believe there is 'strong conflict' between rich and poor—a huge jump from 47% who felt that way in 2009."
This negative idea of class—as something that we engage in "warfare" over—is embedding itself into today's public conversation about politics and the economy like a deer tick. Politically, there's this sense that the 99 percenters resent very rich Americans for their wealth and the caricatured trappings of their wealth, like their extravagant corporate jets, their excessive bonuses, and even their lavish jewelry tabs (recall Newt Gingrich's $500,000 Tiffany's tab). It goes without saying that in this time of economic malaise and even austerity, displays of extravagant wealth might not sit well with Americans. It's gauche, excessive, and gaudy. Here, wealth and class are synonymous.
But culturally, there is a different reality—a different picture of class. In the popular culture—where we turn to escape from our grim economic, political, and personal realities—we are not only intrigued with, but admire those that just happen to be these very same one percenters whom we otherwise envy. Well, not quite the same one percenters. Our infatuation with class in the popular culture takes on a decidedly British air, in our obsession with the miniseries Downton Abbey and our adoration of the royal celebrity Kate Middleton. The defining feature of each is class. Downton Abbey is an award-winning period drama about an aristocratic family living during the reign of King George V. And Middleton is now a member of the royal family. It doesn't get higher-class than that.
In the story of Kate Middleton, we see the virtues of class expressed in an American way. Middleton was a commoner, a member of the middle class. Her mother was a flight attendant. Now, Kate is the queen-in-waiting—a duchess, but one who does her own grocery shopping. She is a “blessedly normal” woman who can walk the halls of Buckingham Palace and command the attention of the world with her elegance, poise, and grace—not to mention her much beloved fashion sense. Her famous blue London Issa dress, which she wore with Prince William at her side, sold out immediately after they announced they were engaged. She has become the embodiment of classy to a world of young women looking for precisely such a role model in a pop culture otherwise inundated with crass and aggressive female personae (see: Chelsea Handler). With Middleton, we see that class does not have so much to do with wealth, as with how you carry yourself while others are looking.
Part of the allure must be the British element. What we don't tolerate from our own corporate aristocracy, we may tolerate from the aristocracy of another nation, closely related to ours, but with a distinctive lilt in the voice. Excessive displays of wealth seem like bad form on this side of the Atlantic, where the flat edge of the democratic spirit wants to level hierarchic distinctions, rather than sharpen them. On the other side of the Atlantic, however, such displays of wealth are celebrated. According to some estimates, the royal wedding cost billions of dollars to pull off. Nobody was crying class warfare back in April, though. Instead, they were mesmerized by the spectacle of a televised ceremony. Over twenty million Americans tuned in, and millions more watched worldwide.
It's a similar story with Downton Abbey. At Newsweek, Simon Schama asks, "Why have Americans fallen for a show that serves up snobbery by the bucketful?" He thinks the show is nothing more than "a servile soap opera that an American public desperate for something, anything, to take its mind off the perplexities of the present seems only too happy to down in great, grateful gulps."
What makes Downton stand out—what makes it the subject of office chatter, newspaper columns, tweets, Facebook posts, and more—is that it presents a captivating drama against a visually lush and lavish backdrop. The setting is what sets it apart. The series begins with the sinking of the Titanic. Now, there’s the hardship of the Great War to grapple with. Questions of matrimony, money, and inheritance rise and fall. The scenes take place in and out of a manor inhabited by tony aristocrats. Its appeal is aesthetic. As an art history professor, Schama should know this.
The Guardian's Sam Wollaston made this connection when he wrote of the series, "It's beautifully made—handsome, artfully crafted and acted. [Maggie] Smith, who plays the formidable and disdainful Dowager Countess, has a lovely way of delivering words, always spaced to perfection. This is going to be a treat if you like a lavish period drama of a Sunday evening."
Similarly, when we roll our eyes at the corporate jets of the 1 percent, we are making an aesthetic judgment: wealth, pictured in that way, is distasteful. It’s the opposite of what its critics say it is. It doesn’t symbolize class—it symbolizes the lack of class. Money can buy an ostentatious array of Tiffany's jewelry, but as the Brits know, it can't buy you class.
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Comments:
Oct '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
And where does the Kennedy dynasty fit into all this? And the Robb Report. And Ralph Lauren, come to think of it.
Answers on a postcard^W in 200 words or less.
Dec '11
Re: The Two Faces of Class
There is nothing that proves your point quite like this history of formal wear:
http://www.blacktieguide.com/History/00-HistoryIntro.htm
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Guruforhire: There is nothing that proves your point quite like this history of formal wear:
http://www.blacktieguide.com/History/00-HistoryIntro.htm · Jan 17 at 9:09am
Love this kind of stuff, thanks for the link!
genferei: And where does the Kennedy dynasty fit into all this? And the Robb Report. And Ralph Lauren, come to think of it.
Answers on a postcard^W in 200 words or less. · Jan 17 at 9:06am
You're right -- they have a place in a broader discussion on these matters. I was trying to limit myself to the contemporary popular culture!
Sep '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Emily Esfahani Smith
Similarly, when we roll our eyes at the corporate jets of the 1 percent, we are making an aesthetic judgment: wealth, pictured in that way, is distasteful.
Though this was a small point in your post, I must respond to it. You have bought into the liberal portrayal of "corporate jets" as being playthings of the rich. Perhaps they are for (liberal) Hollywood stars, but as a private pilot I've met many of the pilots of these jets, and all of the ones I've met fly for small to medium size companies that use these aircraft to meet real business needs.
Edited on January 17, 2012 at 6:32pmAug '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Envy or warfare. The tipping point is what Van Jones is so desperately looking for, that is what he paids for in his new job at the campaign.
Downton Abbey is quite another guilty pleasure. As a soap opera (which all tv is) it is pretty good, as a coffee table book show with the world's best cedar trees surrounding one of the better houses, it rocks.
Acculturated rocks more though.
Mar '11
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Could this be in any way caused by our current President, advocating "fundamental transformation", "redistribution" and "fairness"? Surely not...
Being British by birth, coming from the lower class and rising by state-funded education to somewhere in the lower-upper-middle class, it used to be one of the great attractions of America that there was an absence of class. Well, it was more subtle, and more a question of money. It's sad to see the way America is going.
I haven't been watching Downton Abbey, but I have it in mind to start - sounds good.
Btw, look out for the new BBC TV version of Sherlock Holmes - outstanding!
Edited on January 17, 2012 at 6:47pmDec '11
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Emily Esfahani Smith
Guruforhire: There is nothing that proves your point quite like this history of formal wear:
http://www.blacktieguide.com/History/00-HistoryIntro.htm · Jan 17 at 9:09am
Love this kind of stuff, thanks for the link!
Happy to help.
Dec '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
One author I read often romanticizes the class structure of British/Celtic history. He hammers the point that the upper class was not so much based on what one had but on what was required of those at the top. The key to it, in his writing anyway, was that benevolent action and motivation had to be joined in the inner most character of a person for true nobility to be present. It's a bit utopian and romantic, but it makes it much easier to cheer for the protagonists.
Aug '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
This article makes for a good contrast between class distinctions in America and those in Britain.
I -like- a system where the wealthy are not defined by the fancy clothes they wear, the balls they attend, or the finishing school manners they may have. I like a system where the upper class consists of normal people flying around in jets, making private spaceships, creating vigorous new companies, and taking risks, while still maintaining their lower class roots.
The fact that corporate jets have become synonymous with 'excess' wealth and gauche behavior is just sad. Corporations don't buy jets so that their CEO can lord it over the other CEOS at Davos or Gstaad - they buy them because it's more efficient for them to have rapid, secure transit available for high value employees when needed.
CEOs travel a LOT. They travel with secretaries, sometimes security people, and other resources. Their time is extremely valuable. Corporate jets are mobile offices where the CEO is completely connected and functional at all times. If they didn't provide value to the corporation, they wouldn't be purchased.
Too bad Obama doesn't understand that. And too bad for American aviation manufacturers.
Jul '11
Re: The Two Faces of Class
An upper crust Brit I know never fails to provide me with laughs. I discussed acid reflux with her recently and she asked what could help. I said it involves late night meals, chocolate, alcohol, rich food, and coffee. Her response was priceless, she said,"Oh wonderful! I love all of those".
Jun '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
A hundred years ago, they had charm (or finishing) schools that taught young ladies how to behave like the upper classes, if they didn't come from that, and didn't know. Part of the problem today is, many young people don't even know how to act like they belong in a middle-class environment, let alone something very formal. Foul language and exotic clothing doesn't cut it if you're trying to move up the social ladder. Too many kids just don't know what they don't know. The rich rap star is not the best model for social mobility.
Aug '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
I think a large part of the appeal of Downton Abbey is that all these upper class characters are pretty awful people, actually. The show is designed to appeal to the "99%ers" as an example of the kind of twits they're supposedly opposing.
One could rename the show OCCUPY DOWNTON.
Downton Abbey is no Jeeves and Wooster.
Jul '11
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Misthiocracy: I think a large part of the appeal of Downton Abbey is that all these upper class characters are pretty awful people, actually. The show is designed to appeal to the "99%ers" as an example of the kind of twits they're supposedly opposing.
One could rename the show OCCUPY DOWNTON.
Downton Abbey is no Jeeves and Wooster. · Jan 17 at 10:51am
Bingo!
Dec '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
I do not think this is about contempt for wealth, though the Progressives ginning up the Occupy Movement pretend that it is. It is about envy, pure and simple.
Consider popular culture: "The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" thirty years ago, "MTV's Cribs" today, the glorification in the hip-hop lifestyle of conspicuous consumption.
The people decrying the excesses of the rich -- in the USA, at least -- are angry that they themselves don't have the ability to indulge in those self-same excesses. They are not interested in ensuring that everyone in America lives in the same modest apartment: they want their shot at getting the 12,000 square foot mansion.
This is the Achilles' heel of the Progressives. They can sell the idea that income inequality is bad, but they can't sell the idea that we should all be equal at the poverty line.
Oct '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
David Williamson
Btw, look out for the new BBC TV version of Sherlock Holmes - outstanding! · Jan 17 at 9:41am
I have seen it and it's great!
Interesting point. It seems sometimes like now everyone follows the lead of the lowest classes in cultural matters, as opposed to following the lead of the upper classes. Didn't Peter mention something like that in the podcast with Dennis Prager regarding classical music's waning popularity?
P.S.- I love the way Rush teases about his wealth too. He has a way of being playful, but not pretentious, that makes it hilarious. I think it's because he knows it's a big deal for many but not for him.
Edited on January 17, 2012 at 10:58pmRe: The Two Faces of Class
DocJay
Misthiocracy:
Downton Abbey is no Jeeves and Wooster. · Jan 17 at 10:51am
Bingo! · Jan 17 at 11:02am
No, Bingo Little‘s not there either… : )
Aug '10
Re: The Two Faces of Class
I see the credits and keep waiting for Petula Clark to start singing.
Downton, Everyone wants to go, Downton,
Oct '11
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Have you seen this video for "100 years of style"? It probably isn't all that accurate for a single demographic of snapshots, but I think we generally look more traditionally working class than before. The company I work for has gone from suits to blue jeans over the last thirty years.
I think you're right about class being more than just wealth. I remember cleaning out my great grandma's basement after she passed away; for a Nebraska farmer, she had quite a Kentucky Derby's stock of huge white hats and pastel dresses. Could it be that, as less separates us in other areas of life, money and wealth take on more importance?
Megan McArdle had a cool article a while backing discussing an Orwell observation of middle class Brits who would nearly starve themselves trying to look elite. We certainly have people bankrupting themselves trying to keep up with the Joneses, but it seems as if it's less the cosmetics of class and more the gluttony of goods.
May '11
Re: The Two Faces of Class
Blah blah blah class, royalty, hate the rich, etc. I find the jets awesome, not ostentatious, and the rich inspiring, not distasteful. If I wanted to read this tripe, I could re-read #Occupy signs.
I hope I won't be pilloried for calling this nonsense just what it is, nonsense. At least when Rob Long mistakes the import of U3 for U6, he manages not to sneer at achievement while affecting class.