Do you hang out with people from different socio-economic classes?

I have very rich friends and very poor friends and friends in between. I’ve dated girls from every class. Even my family is divided across classes.

I don’t really believe in the concept of class. I just don’t pay attention to things like that.

I am so stuck in the middle that I don’t fit in anywhere. When our income went up, we lost a lot of friends. Found out that some that stuck around were really expecting a hand out or a bail out.
I get frustrated with people in my same economic class because they have such a crappy attitude, especially towards the poor. Most are pretty pretentious, and I don’t do small talk well. Sigh,
I really don’t hang out with many people except family anymore. It’s a good thing I like them most of the time.

I hang out with people based on interests. I have no quips with your class or background, not that I can usually tell where these lines begin or end. You may have more money than me, or be a different color, but those aren’t reasons we can’t be friends.

I have friends from different cultural backgrounds, race, religious etc. I find it very interesting to learn differences and respect that. However, in terms of socio-economic class, I do tend to have friends who share with samiliar values with me. I don’t discuss about the earnings but we do share similiar values, that how we get on and connected. I guess you just hang around with people you feel comfortable with regardless their class or how much they earn.

Have to agree with @FutureMemory here. The notion of class is absurd to me. It’s an archaic notion in my opinion.

Mostly my friends are in a similar social class, I consider myself upper-middle. But there are few who have much less money or much less education, and some who have much more wealth. I guess they are more acquaintances than friends. View of the world seems to be the most bonding thing for me. More than socio-economics, but it is usually intertwined. Money tends to give people more exposure to the world, and education tends to open the mind, but certainly this is not always true.

I’m the same as @Prosb. and I know many working class/poor people who have very clean bathrooms….. wtf?

Uhh, I’m poor, and my house is spotless. My bathroom is very clean and organized, my towels and washcloths are even rolled up. What the hell does a person’s income have to do with their cleaning habits? I have been in 3rd world countries where people have next to nothing, and their homes are clean, my mother always said “it doesn’t cost a thing to tidy up.”

I hang out with different people. Period.

You’re either interesting or you’re not.

i ain’t got no highfalutin measurin’ stick like what a feller’s shitter looks like

in our apartments we do annual inspections and the lower cost apartments are always cleaner that the “wanna be” apartments.

@Judi it’s interesting that you say that, because my sister has been a housekeeper for years, and she always goes on and on about how shocking it is that the “nicest” (meaning most expensive) homes are always the filthiest.

Most of my friends are working and middle class, and my immediate family is somewhere in the middle of that, leaning more towards working class. I’ve got just a few friends that come from money.

I’m in an interesting situation because every one of my classmates/coworkers makes the same amount of money as I do. So, in that respect, we’re all in the same socioeconomic class.

If you factor out my classmates, every close friend I have makes significantly more money than I do. My boyfriend makes about 4x my salary.

Do you think how well you get along with someone depends on what socioeconomic class someone came from, instead of where they are? Or does that depend on how old they are, or how close their family is?

Yeah. I don’t think it makes a difference unless there is varied character differences, though.

I grew up in an area where one of the wealthiest zip codes in California was less than a mile away from one of the poorest. And the kids from these areas went to the same schools. Because of that, I did end up making friends with people from various socio-economic backgrounds. It wasn’t something that was really talked about, but it was the truth. I definitely have no problem spending time with people of different socio-economic backgrounds; it does not make me uncomfortable.

Of course, I never spent much time in the lower socio-economic areas. I knew someone who spent a lot of time in the poor areas and she was recently shot in a drive-by there. That kind of thing always made a little afraid of ever going to those places. I could have friends from there, but if they ever invited me to their house (they never did) it probably would’ve made me a little nervous.

It also would be a little awkward when people I knew who were “less well off” were exposed to my family’s wealth without really knowing what it was like. No one ever made any negative comments, but I always worried they would think our house was ostentatious or something like that…

My friends span the extremes of money and education but they are my friends in that we share similar social values and personal ethics.

About clean. Certainly poor people can have a clean and tidy house. However, poor people are likely to possibly live in an apartment or house that might need some paint, or the tub might be stained, which again does not mean unclean or not neat. People with money might live in the same circumstance if they just don’t notice or care about those things, but they can afford to change it if they did care, the poor may not have the means to fix those things.

I know many many many very educated people with good incomes who are a mess. Stacks of books and papers, I grew up in a house like that. We usually pull out that saying, “if a cluttered desk means. Cluttered mind, then what does an empty desk mean.” Sometimes those who crave tons and tons of information, have tons and tons of reading materials, and they see perfect organization and neatness as a trivial thing to worry about.

My only point is there are clean and messy at all socioeconomic levels, but the poor have a harder time, even if they are inclined to be neat and clean, because of their financial circumstance.

Working in real estate what I always noticed was men living alone had very neat places usually, and the women were less tidy. But, I would bet a lot of the men had a maid come in to clean up. My husbands definitely more tidy than I am.

I have never really made a conscious choice as the economics of my friendships, just so happens I have a few friends wealthier by far, and several equal or near equal to me/them.
I don’t know anyone really poor in the moment, no, but I remember MY poor days. lol

@JLeslie still, not having the nicest things, and not having a clean home are not the same. It’s just completely different.

@ANef_is_Enuf Absolutely. I was trying to say it is unfair to judge a person as unclean or untidy by older items in the house, and things in disrepair.

@JLeslie I misunderstood your original post, but yes, you’re absolutely right. I was actually irritated enough with the assumption that lower income = unclean, that right after posting my reply I ran upstairs and took a picture of my bathroom in its current condition, just in case I might have to prove myself. I know, a little much. Anyhow, my thought process was… “does it match?” No. “Is anything brand new?” No. “Are things faded, worn, or broken?” Yep. “Is it clean?” It is. So, very much what you were saying, sorry that I misunderstood.

@ANef_is_Enuf No problem. I am glad you said something so I could clarify :).

@JLeslie . . . Why would a poor person’s mess=a need of paint and dirty tubs while people with money have a mess that=stacks of books and papers?

there seems to be some underlying educational dig here

@Blondesjon You are correct, it did sound that way. That is my error. I was thinking of my father and his books everywhere, and the report on 60 minutes with people who are organized and disorganized. And, even a relative of mine who is always annoyed that his SO always has a few books laying around and a periodical or two, but my relative doesn’t read much and is not much of a knowledge seeker, he has very little in the house to have to organize it seems to me. I give him credit for being so neat and clean, but at the same time I think him awful to talk about his boyfriend in front of us like he is horrible because he has a small pile of magazine articles he is interested in, and a book or two not put away. but, then, I want my pile of papers overlooked also.

I was thinking people with money can afford to accumulate a lot of stuff. But, I guess there is a lot of stuff out there for free too. At the same time I was trying to defend that poor people may not have the means, or might be dependent on a landlord to replace something that is broken.

In no way do I think in my head that poor people don’t read or seek knowledge. My own father, you may remember from previous posts I have written, grew up extremely poor, and wound up with a PhD. I don’t have one view of the poor or the rich. People are people.

For me? A person’s socioeconomic background is way less important than their culture, kindness likes/dislikes. I don’t care where you come from as long as there is respect then you’ve earned mine.

The thing is someone is at high socio-economic group doesn’t mean they are nice person and you want to hang out. But you do hang around with those who are similar with you though sharing similar values and interests.

@Londongirl people can be dicks in low socio-economic groups as well you know. I’m surrounded by people who live in section-8 housing and most of them are horrid, horrid people.

@Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard I must admit that I don’t have friends who are living in council estates and I think that would come down with our value of life and perspective are different not because they are poor though.

Say if someone is poor but worked hard got their education, then their values may be changed and they might associate different socio-economic group of people later on too.

@JLeslie . . . No harm. No foul. Thanks for clearing that up. :)

Most of my friends are highly educated. Some come from working class backgrounds, some middle class and some wealthy. There is a difference in their values that sometimes seems like it is expressed through class. There is a different attitude about money and about how it should be used and about how things should be used and cared for.

I was brought up to look for quality. Quality is often (but not always) more expensive. But it lasts longer. If you don’t have that much money, you can’t always afford quality, so you buy cheap and hold on to it longer, even as it falls apart.

Some people have attitudes about taste which are related to both education and wealth. It generally takes money to buy the highest quality things. Even if you don’t have money, and can’t afford things, there are people who have those kinds of tastes.

To me that is a class difference that is far more important than money. Class is about what you do for fun and how much you know and what your expectations are about life.

My friends come from all kinds of different economic backgrounds, but they tend to share the same educational and aesthetic values and aspirations. Our culture is similar. We are all liberals and share the same politics. We value knowledge. Few, if any, are religious. If they are religious, it is either Judaism, Buddhism, or Unitarianism or something similar. I.e., the religions that have the least to do with some god or another. Many of my friends are big into spirituality and ritual, but not in a religious way. They also tend to be artistic.

One of my closest friends was living in section 8 housing, but he was spiritually and musically far beyond anywhere I will ever be. I don’t think I have any very wealthy friends—just upper middle class and lower as far as wealth is concerned.

But as I say, for me, wealth is not what it’s about. It’s the kind of person in terms of interests and avocations and education. Those things tend to be associated with income, however. How can they not be? Education is expensive. Being an artist generally requires some independence from needing wealth. Either you have it, or you don’t and you don’t care because art is more important.