Can you pass the Beverly Hillbillies test?

[W2R]

Exactly. The boomer generation does not fit well into his categories.

Yes! Also, none of his listed categories include having parents of a higher class than the test-taker. So, I think it is designed mostly to stroke (egos).

• A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average televi-sion and moviegoing habits.
Range: 48–99. Typical: 77.
• A first- generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and moviegoing habits.
Range: 42–100. Typical: 66.
• A first- generation upper-middle- class person with middle-class par-ents.
Range: 11–80. Typical: 33.
• A second- generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot.
Range: 0–43. Typical: 9.
• A second- generation (or more) upper-middle-class person with the tele-vision and moviegoing habits of the upper middle class.
Range: 0–20.Typical: 2.

 

[aaronc879]

Yeah. Thanks to the OP for bringing this test to our attention, but now that I have gone through it I think this is one of the lamest tests I have ever taken! Seems like the author likes to categorize by stereotypes, and many of us don't fit his preconceived notions of class. He also seems to assume that none of us have any significant class mobility.

I ended up in the appropriate category so it's not entirely inaccurate. However, he does make a lot of assumptions that are really not very appropriate. They are sterotypes and that's never a good thing.

 

[Nemo2]

Seems like the author likes to categorize by stereotypes

Indeed. (Only) one such example is the "Have you had a job where you hurt?" question that I referred to upthread......I'd venture that the test compiler has never performed manual labor where one is tired afterwards, but not 'hurting'.

(Unless he meant someone in a combat zone who's been wounded. )

 

[FUEGO]

"In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America."

I think I fit squarely into this category. I first read a review of Mr. Murray's book while reading The Economist on my Android phone, which places me firmly into the new upper class. However at the time I was reading The Economist, I was riding the city bus to work and sitting amongst our city's poor (people who own cars don't ride the bus here - it is decidedly lower class - while I consider it a privilege and it is very convenient and free for me ).

 

[HFWR]

Don't need no stinkin' test...

I've worked in a factory (well, several actually) and on a chicken farm, pumped gas, swept floors, pitched hay. Watched my mom do laundry with a wringer washer. Been to Hazard, KY. Used an outhouse. Used snuff. Been to three NASCAR races.

Have a college degree, worked in high tech, have a cell phone, tablet computer, and a hybrid.

I'm indescribable...

"I've seen the Grand Ol' Opry, and I've met Johnny Cash.
If that ain't 'Country', I'll kiss your ***."

 

[scrabbler1]

Yeah. Thanks to the OP for bringing this test to our attention, but now that I have gone through it I think this is one of the lamest tests I have ever taken! Seems like the author likes to categorize by stereotypes, and many of us don't fit his preconceived notions of class. He also seems to assume that none of us have any significant class mobility.

I think there was some regional bias in the test. NASCAR and Branson are pretty far away from here (Long Island, New York) This area is not very big on evangelicals even though over the years I have been friends with some fairly religious people (i.e. went to church weekly). And here in the northeast, Amtrak replaces a lot of medium/long-distance bus travel (although I did take a meduim-distance bus once.

Being raised in a nominally Jewish household (before I became an atheist) provided me with a different set of values and priorities than I saw in others, even if my parents were hardly upper-middle class. Military, lettering, unions, and garbage on TV were never part of my upbringing.

I may be in a bubble in many ways, as I do consider myself an outlier to some degree. But upper-middle class?

 

[brewer12345]

Used snuff.

Help me out here: why? what does it do for you? I know there must be some reason people walk around with a carcinogenic wad in their mouths aside from peer pressure. Does it get you high or something?

 

[Moemg]

Indeed. (Only) one such example is the "Have you had a job where you hurt?" question that I referred to upthread......I'd venture that the test compiler has never performed manual labor where one is tired afterwards, but not 'hurting'.

(Unless he meant someone in a combat zone who's been wounded. )

I took it to mean aching and after a 12 hour shift in the Operating Room every part of my body ached plus I wore a uniform.

 

[HFWR]

Help me out here: why? what does it do for you? I know there must be some reason people walk around with a carcinogenic wad in their mouths aside from peer pressure. Does it get you high or something?

Heh, first time or two.

Never cared much for it, but it was a handy nicotine delivery mechanism when you were unable to light up...

 

[Bimmerbill]

I heard an interview with the author on the radio and it sounded like an interesting book.

 

[brewer12345]

I heard an interview with the author on the radio and it sounded like an interesting book.

This is an issue near and dear to my heart. Having moved in the rarified circles of the folks on the top, it is very clear to me how little most of the movers and shakers (regardless of party affiliation, etc.) know about the lives of the vast majority of the population. The US population has very effectively sorted itself into a bunch of groups who largely only deal with people who look and live like themselves and cannot even stand to listen to (and usually do not care in the slightest about) those who are different. I think this raises the long term risk of a country that cannot come together when necessary and it also robs everyone of a huge amount of insight into life via others' experience.

We have repeatedly chosen to live in neighborhoods with more ethnic/educational/"collar" diversity than the places peers and society tell us are the "right" places for us. Sometimes it is a touch out of my comfort zone, but I have never thought I was worse off for my interactions with people who are not like me. And over the long term, some of it has rubbed off on me for the better.

 

[jclarksnakes]

No bubble for me. The author's premise for his book and test are based on stereotypes which have no relevance at all in my life. I suspect that many others on this forum also have lives that do not fit his stereotypes. My dad was an aerospace engineer. I flew army helicopters for 21 years and then went back to college and after that worked 14 years as a floor nurse in the county hospital. DW has been a public school teacher for 27 years. For most of my life I have been upper middle class, at least regards education and income. I scored 73 points on the long test. Maybe I have just seen too much of the world?

 

[NW-Bound]

I took the short test. It said that

...you scored between 5 and 8. In other words, you can see through your bubble, but you need to get out more.​

Hmm... I did not know that I have been in a bubble. It's comfortable, so why would that be wrong? Sure, I am getting out more. That's what the RV is for, to see "America" and how the rest of the country lives.

 

[HFWR]

This is an issue near and dear to my heart. Having moved in the rarified circles of the folks on the top, it is very clear to me how little most of the movers and shakers (regardless of party affiliation, etc.) know about the lives of the vast majority of the population. The US population has very effectively sorted itself into a bunch of groups who largely only deal with people who look and live like themselves and cannot even stand to listen to (and usually do not care in the slightest about) those who are different. I think this raises the long term risk of a country that cannot come together when necessary and it also robs everyone of a huge amount of insight into life via others' experience.

We have repeatedly chosen to live in neighborhoods with more ethnic/educational/"collar" diversity than the places peers and society tell us are the "right" places for us. Sometimes it is a touch out of my comfort zone, but I have never thought I was worse off for my interactions with people who are not like me. And over the long term, some of it has rubbed off on me for the better.

+1

 

[NW-Bound]

... Sometimes it is a touch out of my comfort zone...

Just be sure that you do not call anyone names..

 

[bssc]

Interesting, I scored an 11 since I had been on a factory floor, saw four of the movies and recognized all the ranks. There were a couple of others but what can I say.

My test is "How many crayons were in your box growing up as a kid?" I had 64 with the built in sharpener.

 

[W2R]

Interesting, I scored an 11 since I had been on a factory floor, saw four of the movies and recognized all the ranks. There were a couple of others but what can I say.

My test is "How many crayons were in your box growing up as a kid?" I had 64 with the built in sharpener.

I only had 12 But that was in the old days and I guess there were other kids who just had 12 back in the 1950's.

I always wanted 128 with the built-in sharpener. So, I bought them for my daughter when she was little, though she could have cared less. We colored together a lot.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Interesting, I scored an 11 since I had been on a factory floor, saw four of the movies and recognized all the ranks. There were a couple of others but what can I say.

My test is "How many crayons were in your box growing up as a kid?" I had 64 with the built in sharpener.

We had the 8 Crayola set, but I had to share with my 3 siblings, so I really had only 2: blue and green

Now that would be a good quiz, simple to answer, easy to score. We need a Crayola poll-ola!

 

[W2R]

We had the 8 Crayola set, but I had to share with my 3 siblings, so I really had only 2: blue and green

Sounds like your pictures had a real blue-green look about them!

I must have had 8, instead of 12. It was the little box with just one row of crayons, and I had to share with my two brothers. So, I really had 2.67. The 0.67 was the broken piece of one of them, stuffed way down in the box. Still, it was more than you had.

 

[dessert]

I scored 16-20. He says "I don't even have a bubble". Apparently I am an all american guy, but a clear member of the dinosaur generation.
But I didn't even know who the Nascar guy was.

 

[NW-Bound]

We had no Crayola where/when I grew up. We used colored pencils, and the standard set had 12. However, they made up for it by requiring us to paint in water color. Water color!

Oh my gosh! I still remember the drawing class each week was like a torture for me, in the 4th grade, for a kid born with no artistic talents. In the class, there was that cute girl that I secretly admired, but I digressed (I do not even remember what she looked like, only that I had a crush) ...

 

[Moemg]

.

My test is "How many crayons were in your box growing up as a kid?" I had 64 with the built in sharpener.

I had two rows so that was probably 16 . Plus I always had a pencil box whatever happened to those ?

 

[freebird5825]

I took the short, interactive test and scored "between 9 and 12":

In other words, even if you're part of the new upper class, you've had a lot of exposure to the rest of America.

Boy howdy!

Same result on the short interactive quiz.

My uniform was for 2 j*bs...the summer college job as a mechanic for Sears, and the lab coat and safety goggles I wore as an Engineer w*rking with lasers.

 

[HFWR]

Finally took the test. To lazy to score it, but let's say I got lots of points...

I grew up in a small town in the 50s and 60s. These things are not at all unusual in that context...

 

[freebird5825]

Interesting, I scored an 11 since I had been on a factory floor, saw four of the movies and recognized all the ranks. There were a couple of others but what can I say.

My test is "How many crayons were in your box growing up as a kid?" I had 64 with the built in sharpener.

I still have a box of Crayola crayons (64) and a pretty cool dinosaur coloring book.
I haven't used it in a while, but sometimes I pull the book out and do another picture just for the sheer fun of it.