Quiz "Do You Live in a Bubble?"

[MRG]

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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Well it's so like where I live in MO.

 

[Lsbcal]

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

I must not be reading the right stuff. Most often I skip the sports section.

 

[HFWR]

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.

I'm reminded of President Bush I, who seemed surprised that there were barcode readers at the grocery...

 

[38Chevy454]

32, and the description here fits "A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents". It would probably be lower, but I answered the "have you ever..." questions even though the ever was way in the past.

 

[tmm99]

Well it's so like where I live in MO.

Yeah, I guess the quiz got me correctly (I scored 37) from how you answered, as well as others did to my question. I am pretty isolated from the mainstream, although I must say the "mainstream" seems isolated and is being in a bubble of their own. I feel like there are two countries inside one country...

 

[ABQ2015]

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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This describes most of the people that I went to junior high/high school with in a small New Mexico mining town. Just substitute factory floor for open pit copper mine and there is no Denny's (town is not large enough for any of those chain restaurants) although there are a few cafes and fast food places. Some of us left after graduation but many stayed and worked for the mines just as their fathers and grandfathers had in generations past.

 

[marko]

Hmph! I came in at 13. I never win at stuff like this.

I found the negative questions ("did you ever not X") gave me a headache.

 

[razztazz]

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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How can mainstream American be small-towny when most of the population has lived I or near urban centers for I think, going on 100 years now? or at least the last 50 or 60 years

I scored a 43 so my bubble density puts me closer top the tea-with-pinky-extended, Pahdon me, but have you any Gray Poupon? crowd. But most of my "mainstream" pointage, if I read the amplifying data correctly, comes from my upbringing and having been in the military. My world view and much of my lifestyle makes me not at all comfortable around the Ralph Kramden Class, even if being smart, educated, and having a million bucks (more or less) never had gotten me into the detached denser bubbulous neighborhood.

 

[marko]

Knowing where the questions were going, I thought the questionnaire to be too stereotyping. If you've ever bought a case of Bud and know who Jimmy is sort of thing.

Does "being on a factory floor" when your family owned the factory count?
Does a spouse own a pickup truck to haul your $1M worth of prize of winning Arabian horses --or better yet--polo ponies around?

I also wondered if this was some stealth marketing thing trying glean my likes/dislikes (what TV shows do you watch/where to you eat out)...maybe I'll get some Denny's coupons seeing as I've never eaten there.

 

[GravitySucks]

69 but trying to get it lower....

 

[MRG]

Knowing where the questions were going, I thought the questionnaire to be too stereotyping. If you've ever bought a case of Bud and know who Jimmy is sort of thing.

Does "being on a factory floor" when your family owned the factory count?
Does a spouse own a pickup truck to haul your $1M worth of prize of winning Arabian horses --or better yet--polo ponies around?

I agree. My pickup has leather heated seats, maybe the most comfortable vehicle I've ever owned. Probably a better question, IMHO, would be "did your pickup the have a factory supplied passenger seat?" now we're talking. I mean if you have ever gone 100 miles sitting on a milk crate, that's a whole lot different than a ride in a 50k pickup.

 

[mickeyd]

Got a 37. At first I thought The "Jimmie" was the football coach guy but selected the NASCAR guy. I bet that pegged me as a NASCAR guy but I am not a big fan tho I watch it a bit. I drink Shiner beer exclusively but did not think that they were referring to that in the Q. That Q was too vague. Did not know any TV shows.

 

[gauss]

I came in at 31 - not too surprising. I then proceeded to offer the quiz to DM since she was over visiting this afternoon. I knew ahead of time that she was a bit of a "delicate flower". Mom's results - she came in at a 3. LOL.

FWIW - My mother and father came from very different upbringings.

-gauss

 

[haha]

31. Not much information there I'd guess. I do think that NASCAR is about as dull as anything could be, but my real life has probably had more country in it than a typical sample of a Sunday at the oval.


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[Katsmeow]

I got a 25 mostly because of growing up in a non-college neighborhood with non-college parents. I went through it again and answered like I thought my son (senior in college would answer it). I estimated he would score a 6.

 

[gauss]

My world view and much of my lifestyle makes me not at all comfortable around the Ralph Kramden Class, even if being smart, educated, and having a million bucks (more or less) never had gotten me into the detached denser bubbulous neighborhood.

If you goal was financial independence at an early age, then the book The Millionaire Next Door would say that you did exactly the right thing for a neighborhood choice. -gauss

 

[target2019]

Score was 43. Means not much.

I grew up in a large city. Moved to suburb at 25. Raised two kids as replacement units for us. Technically, our community is around 10,000. But we're tied into the metropolitan area.

 

[gamboolman]

51
Can't figure out what it means though?

 

[frayne]

51
Can't figure out what it means though?

You're half way between 50 and 52 is my best guess. Being a 52 myself, take my comment for what it is worth, which is about what the survey is worth, IMHO.

 

[Dreamer]

71 I figured I would have the highest score here, due to my childhood. I also live in flyover country. I spent several years in poverty early in life, many of my relatives were in the service (including myself, for a short time), I ate in 2 of the restaurants listed, because one was chosen by my granddaughter and one was chosen by my son. I thought that Jimmie Johnson, was the football coach. I have been to one Nascar race in 2006 in Charlotte NC, because we were given tickets. Neither my DH or myself, have ever watched it on TV. We do watch Modern Family, Big Bang Theory and Blacklist, and enjoy them. I have seen some of the movies, because I take my 7 year old granddaughter to them. Had also seen some of the movies from Redbox free movie codes. I bought Avon a few times, when I was in high school. I know what Branson is, but have not been there. I have worked as a waitress at a truck stop, started working a sewing factory, but never made it out of training, before deciding that it was not for me and as a grocery store clerk. I had several of the jobs during high school and for a couple of years later. I have come a long way since that time, but not nearly as far as many here. I am grateful for many of my early childhood experiences, because I appreciate very much where I am now. I also realize how lucky I was, to be given many different chances in life. For instance, I hate to think of how my life might have turned out, if my relatives in PA did not get us 5 kids out of the orphanage in CA, when I was 11 years old. My DH and I have much more than we ever thought we would when we were first married. We are blessed.

 

[scrabbler1]

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

I don't have an entire list, but I do have some things I would change from the recent survey. I hope this doesn't get me into trouble with the mods.

The question about evangelicals is based on a 2004 survey which by now is way out of date. More recently, the percentage of "nones" is way up, to nearly 22.8%, while the percentage of evangelicals is down slightly, to 26.4%. I would flip the survey question around and ask, "Do you know someone who is an atheist or who has never attended church or a house worship in the last 5 years?"

I'd ask this about TV viewing habits: "Do you watch Fox News or MSNBC as your main source of national news?" Yes=bubble, no=not.

I'd ditch that question about smoking. Many people, including myself, find smoking disgusting and avoid smokers because of self-preservation. And far fewer people smoke today than 50 years ago, when this question may have been more appropriate. I was an avid anti-smoking activist in the 1980s and 1990s, first asking eateries to set up simple non-smoking areas, then writing my state and local legislators to pass non-smoking laws in public places. Does wanting to breathe smoke-free air put me into a bubble?

Instead of a question about Jimmie Johnson, how about one which asks if you can name your member of the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, governor, state legislators, and a SCOTUS justice.

As for Avon, it's pretty biased against men, especially single men. And I buy different items for the special women in my life (LF, mom).

Instead of a question about pick-up trucks, how about one about Priuses?

I don't drink so that puts me into a bubble?

How about a question about playing chess or Scrabble, 2 popular board games, instead of one about fishing or "lettering" in something?

Instead of a question about riding a Greyhound bus, how about one about riding a city subway? New York City's subway annual ridership is 1.76 billion, 70 times that of Greyhound. Maybe a question with a picture of a NYC Metrocard asking someone to identify it correctly?

How about a question, "What does the word, "Ray's" mean to you? [It's a great pizza place (not as good as it used to be) in Greenwich Village, Manhattan.

 

[mickeyd]

"What does the word, "Ray's" mean to you?

baseball

 

[FreeBear]

It was likely the habits (no alcohol and mostly go to cheap Chinese restaurants instead of popular chains) and pop-culture stuff that got me. Honestly though, in terms of poverty, living in the US is like living in a bubble. Even back when we first immigrated and had income that's considered below the poverty line, quality of life was better than what we had as middle class in the Philippines.

That said, what qualifies as upper middle class anyway? Given high COL in LA, I would've put myself in the middle class but not upper.

+1

So true, and sometimes easy to forget...

 

[FreeBear]

I got a 31.

Closest category: "A first-generation upper-middle-class person with middle-class parents. Typical: 33."

Pretty close, except my folks were upper-middle class immigrants. Dad was a natural born red-neck, and proud of it.

 

[Midpack]

29. This is closest by description:

0–43: A second-generation (or more) upper-middle-class person who has made a point of getting out a lot. Typical: 9.