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I grew up in a working class family, but due to my education/career I have a lot of friends and acquaintances in the professional class
This is a thread about the two most common blind spots and political biases of educated professionals, from my perspective
This is a thread about the two most common blind spots and political biases of educated professionals, from my perspective
The less interesting one first: denial about the influence and interests of the media industry. They enjoy attacking strawmen or the silliest populist conspiracy theories, and generalize from these to anyone saying e.g. the media is unfair to Bernie/Corbyn, etc.
There's a lot of in-group/out-group dynamics and social media harassing that goes with this. They pick outsiders (e.g. certain Jacobin/Intercept writers), judge them based on e.g. their worst tweets, but usually don't apply the same scrutiny to mainstream figures
The second and probably more important/causal one is related to a common debate about class and identity.
They refuse to see class.
It's not just that they disagree with "class-first" theories, they won't consider class as an explanatory or causal variable at all
They refuse to see class.
It's not just that they disagree with "class-first" theories, they won't consider class as an explanatory or causal variable at all
I think it's true that "identity" is a stronger explanation for political behavior than policy preferences, but for some reason *class* is the one thing that can't be an important identity.
Instead, 1 of the most important identities for educated folks is--wait for it--education
Instead, 1 of the most important identities for educated folks is--wait for it--education
Education is considered a near-magical remedy to the central problem of American politics: a form of racism that is *essential* to people who are identified as racists.
As with race science, the *point* of the essentialism is to excuse us from trying to use policy to change it
As with race science, the *point* of the essentialism is to excuse us from trying to use policy to change it
In this view, demographics is destiny, and all we can do is wait for the people without education to die off and stop voting
(Maybe while also running moderate Dems in swing districts, who block working class policies but bribe voters with a little racism, as a treat)
(Maybe while also running moderate Dems in swing districts, who block working class policies but bribe voters with a little racism, as a treat)
A few important consequences of the combination of these two biases:
1. Since media supposedly isn't influential, racism and misogyny (and other identity maladies) can't possibly be *consequences* of constant sustained effort by right wing media.
1. Since media supposedly isn't influential, racism and misogyny (and other identity maladies) can't possibly be *consequences* of constant sustained effort by right wing media.
2. Politicians like Bernie and Corbyn, whose actual platforms and long histories of combining class politics with social justice, are either invisible (not worth serious consideration), or become unreal caricatures, tarred as racists despite fighting racism their whole lives
3. As education continues to be warped by capitalism into glorified job training, and does not actually prevent racism but merely teaches people to speak more tactfully, they still see aligning the Dem Party with college grads (their in-group) as desirable/sustainable
/end
/end
