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Monday, February 06, 2012

Class differences define America

I'm not a big fan of Charles Murray and I'm not sure I totally buy his argument (proposed in his new book, Coming Apart), regarding the impact of policy makers having no idea how the other half live:

"The people who run the country have enormous influence over the culture, politics, and the economics of the country. And increasingly, they haven't a clue about how most of America lives. They have never experienced it. They don't watch the same movies, they don't watch the same television shows — they don't watch television at all, in many cases — and when that happens, you get some policies that are pretty far out of whack."

I wonder if you really need to watch Real Housewives of Orange County to make good decisions about American life. But this especially caught my attention:

Murray's findings proved counterintuitive, at least to the political narrative that characterizes the affluent classes as liberal and secular. It turns out that they are actually the group most likely to get and stay married. They go to church and synagogue more often and feel more strongly affiliated with their religion than the white working class. They are the keepers of "traditional" American values.



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