An excellent series of posts on social classes, etc.

Just ran across them today.

• The Class Project 1: Defining Terms
• The Class Project 2: Who I Am
• The Class Project 3: Attitudes & Money
• The Class Project 4: On the Job
• The Class Project 5: Mine!
• The Class Project 6: The Status Civilization
• The Class Project 7: Playing by the Rules

A great quote:

A lot of people misjudge class conflicts because they fail to recognize this difference in rules. Marxists often assume that the working class must and should hate the upper classes because the upper classes have an unfair share of the world’s wealth, but this simply demonstrates that such Marxists are middle class in their attitudes — neither the working class nor the upper class considers money to be the most important thing going.

and another:

If someone plays by different rules than yours, that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.

and also:

Class isn’t inborn, it isn’t destiny, and it isn’t just money. It’s attitude, belief, and the rules by which you determine your status and decide whether you’re a success or a failure. Most people learn those from their families while they’re growing up, and never fundamentally change. Others rebel against their upbringing, with varying degrees of success.

People too often do not understand or appreciate the effects of class in America.

For a good book:

A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne


As for me, most recently ordered:

Learn Judo with the Gokyo Gang - DVD#1 (DVD - 2009)

Should be fun. Copyright is 2009 but it was released this week ;)