Class Warfare

Geez, rereading that post from a few days back I sound like a regular ol' money hating marxist. And although that is true, it's not true to the degree that you would think from reading that post about my ex..

I said somewhere before that I think that our brains get into the habit of seeing everything through a certain filter. The person who gave the lecture about class was an expert of class-- and had conditioned herself through years of study to see everything through that class filter. After attending her lecture, I had a tendency to see everything through the same filter for a few days. Perhaps this filter provides a good model for understanding a few special problems, but we get into trouble when we try to make a unifying theory that will apply to everything. For example, I lose track of cause in effect in something like this....

For example, one of the "values of poverty" that she talked about dealt with how classes see success. Generational poor see success as a matter of fate-- middle class people got lucky where I was unlucky. Middleclass people (so the theory goes) see success as a issue of choice. "I made good decisions so I'm well-to-do where as yonder poor folk made poor decisions." The wealthy, on the other hand, agree with the poor-- they see their own riches as a matter of destiny. This is the reason that the tax cuts in the US and the "hurricane relief" focus on the mega wealthy (over $500,000 a year.) You see, they were destined for great things, and this tragedy could come in the way of their destiny, where the poor people would have just been poor anyway!

Now, while I see some point to this model (I think the explaination of Bush policy is cute if not accurate) I think there are big problems. For example this theory sees these items as social values passed on by the generations, which keep poor people poor, and middle class middle class....

But I would make the arguement that this is an example of primary attribution error. Poor people believe in fatalism because that's what they see. Middle classes believe in choice because that is what they see. Rather, that is what they are hardwired to see.

Primary Attribution Bias is the idea that humans have a tendence to see things though this sort of filter: if I do well, I believe it is choice, if I do poorly I believe it was due to external circumstances or luck. If "the other" does well I believe "they just got lucky" if they do poorly, I believe it was due to poor choices. Now I'm convinced that there is something to Primary attribution Bias and that humans seem programed to see things this way. If this is true, it would explain why poor people see success in terms of luck and middle classes as the effect of choice. And if socializaiton is taken out of the process, then the above "class values" theory is rendered meaningless....