Quiz "Do You Live in a Bubble?"

[Major Tom]

Hahahaha, I got 15. But, like W2R, I think it shows how difficult it is to attempt to apply socio-economic classifications to Americans. In my case, it reflects not so much that I grew up in a bubble, but more my odd character, which is somewhat insular and asocial. In other words, all sorts of "average American" things could be going on all around me and I'd be busy stuck in my own head, happy as a clam, blithely unaware of my surroundings.

As I've said many times before, all a guy needs to be happy is a bicycle, a place to live, and a few cats

 

[Fedup]

24, I only had a brief period of poverty, like one year. But I grew up from a well to do family. My father was considered successful back in the old days.


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[NW-Bound]

Hahahaha, I got 15. But, like W2R, I think it shows how difficult it is to attempt to apply socio-economic classifications to Americans. In my case, it reflects not so much that I grew up in a bubble, but more my odd character, which is somewhat insular and asocial. In other words, all sorts of "average American" things could be going on all around me and I'd be busy stuck in my own head, happy as a clam, blithely unaware of my surroundings.

As I've said many times before, all a guy needs to be happy is a bicycle, a place to live, and a few cats

I know that you are also an immigrant, same as I am. Knowing that I am "different" than people around me, I have done RV'ing around the country to see how the rest of the US lives. Don't know if it changes me any, but I have enjoyed the trek. You can do the same.

 

[NW-Bound]

I just thought of something. If I ask my adult children to take the test, I think their scores will also be low, even though they are US-born. But then, what can I expect? I raised them in a bubble!

 

[Gumby]

65, and I'm sure that none of my professional colleagues would ever guess. There are an awful lot of assumptions made about someone who does what I do for a living and looks like I look.

 

[NW-Bound]

Hmmm... The Web site shows that the average score is 40, and the distribution follows a bell curve.

If 40 is considered average or mainstream, how do we interpret a higher score? How can one be more "mainstream" than the average person?

 

[ejman]

I got 34. Not sure if I'm in a bubble or not but if I am I like it and stay off my bubble!

 

[rdy2go]

I think the survey must have been written by someone that lives in a bubble like a condo in Manhattan. Your family could own the factory, sponsor Jimmie Johnson's car and have been a ski bum in Colorado and qualify for a high score on the survey.

 

[Car-Guy]

57 (never watched any of the TV shows, and never even heard of some of them)

 

[tmm99]

So can someone tell me what mainstream America is? According to some of the comments on this thread, they don't have college degrees, live in small towns, own pickup trucks, know who Jimmie is, eat at Denny's, drink beer, go fishing, have worn uniforms at work, and also have worked on factory floors?


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[scrinch]

My score was 51.

It was sad they didn't include Downton Abbey on the TV program list. I have not watched any of the ones they listed.

I scored a 39....average US bubble even though I live overseas.

In the Branson question I immediately thought of Downton Abbey! I hadn't watched any (or even heard of most of) the TV shows they listed.

 

[robnplunder]

43 - the test got it right. Not bad.

 

[Winemaker]

55, and the fridge has home brewed ales, ipas and lagers. The wine cellar has over 1000 bottles, so I have no time to watch TV or go to the movies. And I quit fishing when BIL sold his boat.

 

[donheff]

I got a 35 but expect my bubble would be thicker (i.e. lower score).

 

[davemartin88]

I got a 70? Spent some time outside th US and in the military so might be a factor.

 

[jjquantz]

I scored 58 (Closest - A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits. Most of the points came from my experiences growing up in a working class household and having siblings who are still working class (where most of them are collecting disability, today, it seems). TV and movie going habits - not so much. I did teach in a rural small town for 5 years where less than 10% of the population had a college degree and we had 1 rough year after grad school where the household income was definitely below the poverty level.

As some of the rest of you have said, when I went away to college I discovered a whole new world of experiences and found that I enjoyed them a lot more than those that were modeled to me in my hometown. So I consciously carved a life that was VERY different from the ones chosen by my siblings and childhood friends.

 

[scrabbler1]

Looks like my proud score of 10 is still the lowest here.


I was not born into any wealth, just a middle class, suburban LI upbringing in the late 1960s and 1970s. I'm too young to have been drafted (I was 10 when the draft ended in 1973) and never knew anyone who served in the military. I have no interest in pop culture such watching most current popular TV shows (other than Law & Order). I watch more C-Span. I was born Jewish but became an atheist at age 13, so I have no clue about evangelical religious people (I have known a few fairly religious people, though). I do eat at Applebee's once in a while and did ride an interstate bus more than 50 miles a few years ago. I have never drank anything alcoholic in my lifetime, just never was interested. Being male, I never bought Avon. I was an honors student and all my friends were, too, so no socializing with the C-student crowd. I finished college with little student debt and got an office job I held for 23 years (until I ERed in 2008), so no factory or union work. My dad was not a college grad but held a white-collar-type job. My mom had some college but was otherwise similar to my dad.


My definition of "bubble" would be a lot different from Murray's. I'd ask many different questions which would put other people in a bubble and have me in the mainstream LOL!

 

[HFWR]

So can someone tell me what mainstream America is? According to some of the comments on this thread, they don't have college degrees, live in small towns, own pickup trucks, know who Jimmie is, eat at Denny's, drink beer, go fishing, have worn uniforms at work, and also have worked on factory floors?


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Aka "flyover country".

 

[Fedup]

Honestly my score would have been lower, the only C student I associated with was my brother, and he was my friend. So that's why I picked yes as an answer. That C student is doing very well in life.


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[Big_Hitter]

So can someone tell me what mainstream America is? According to some of the comments on this thread, they don't have college degrees, live in small towns, own pickup trucks, know who Jimmie is, eat at Denny's, drink beer, go fishing, have worn uniforms at work, and also have worked on factory floors?


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Manitowoc county?

 

[NanoSour]

Scored 36.

I have to agree with first-generation upper middle class with middle class parents.

 

[Lsbcal]

...
My definition of "bubble" would be a lot different from Murray's. I'd ask many different questions which would put other people in a bubble and have me in the mainstream LOL!

I bet you'd do a better job. Looking forward to your questionnaire.

 

[Senator]

I received a 77.

48–99: A lifelong resident of a working-class neighborhood with average television and movie going habits. Typical: 77.

 

[Which Roger]

So can someone tell me what mainstream America is? According to some of the comments on this thread, they don't have college degrees, live in small towns, own pickup trucks, know who Jimmie is, eat at Denny's, drink beer, go fishing, have worn uniforms at work, and also have worked on factory floors?
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That is the group that is the focus of the survey, in that the survey is measuring how isolated the respondent is from that group. It's also the stereotype of the demographic that supports Trump, and if fact at the end of the page it says "For more on the topic, watch Making Sen$e’s latest segment with Charles Murray on why economic anxiety is driving working-class voters to “Trumpism.”

The irony I see is that, although that group is described by the author as "the average American and American culture at large", they are actually in a bubble, since they are more isolated and less exposed to people who are different from them than are the respondents who supposedly live in a bubble.

 

[Amethyst]

Knowing C Students: My best friend in grade school was several years older than I was, yet we were in the same grade, because I had been pushed ahead and she had been kept behind. She was a sweet person who liked following me around. I had to come up with all the ideas, but she was always up for them.

Knowing Religious People: Something about my line of work seems to draw Mormons, evangelicals, and observant Jews, among others. I've had all sorts of interesting discussions.

I've read the Book of Mormon. I love their idea that Christ didn't just hang around Israel, but came to the New World to save more people.

One of my Jewish bosses told me that Leviticus is a "requirements document" for how he is supposed to live his life. The idea of God as a systems engineer just tickled me.

Another boss was an engineer who personally started a local school where only Creationism is taught, so his 3 kids wouldn't be poisoned by godless scientific teachings. I asked him once how they dealt with geological evidence, and he said the Devil put the fossils there to test our faith. Personally I doubt the Devil has to go to that much trouble to make us misbehave.

Pickup Truck: Mr. A. and I bought a pickup truck when we moved to an "estate home" built on a 3-acre lot. The lot was completely bare except for a few "builder shrubs" which, naturally, started dying the minute the builder stuck them in the ground. We planted more than 100 trees and shrubs, driving that little truck all over the yard and using it to haul sand, rocks, topsoil, you name it.

Oh, and I knew who Jimmie Johnson is because...I READ!!

There can be many paths to the same place...

Amethyst