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Ineedavodka2019 t1_isa504m wrote

Reply to comment by Bob_Sconce in Class background still a marker for ‘success’ in later life, research shows by Additional-Two-7312

Why would they have tighter connections to their extended families? So to increased need to rely on them? Why wouldn’t a “professional” have a similar need? (Honest question, the answer seems obvious but I wanted to see your opinion.)

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Bob_Sconce t1_isaaz6b wrote

I have no idea. Maybe it's because their working-class families rely on them more. Maybe it's because as people become wealthier, they become more self-centered or develop more of an "anything for the job" ethic. Maybe it's because working-class families tend to pressure their family members to stay put more than "professional" families do.

I'm in the US. My grandparents were I think what we'd call "working class." My father was an attorney and we lived 15 minutes from my mother's family, and 90 minutes from my father's. My siblings and I are all professionals and we all live 400+ from where we grew up (my sister is 2500+ miles). So, I see the dynamic in my own life. However, our experience could easily be distinguished just by time -- maybe people moved less in the past than they do now.

I'm also a little skeptical of the ability to test the hypothesis when the subject population are all on a 80,000 square mile island.

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Ineedavodka2019 t1_isak78m wrote

I am also in the US and have a similar experience although my grandparents came from working class and then my grandfather was a partner in a large firm. My parents went backwards to working class.All of them stayed near family. Now my husband and I are professionals and live in his hometown (far from my family), however, his siblings live around 2 hours away and not near any family and are also professionals. In our town there are many working class families, I would even say the majority of households, and I think some of why they stay put is due to lack of perceived opportunities and a sense of doing what they know. I think a lot of people kind of just do what they were brought up to know. Similar to financial literacy.

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