Posts filed under 'class'
Campaigning in ‘the Big Sort’
Rachel Kelnar writes:
I’ve been interested to see the noise generated by Barack Obama’s decision to deploy and maintain staff in every US state during the current US presidential election campaign. Leaving aside the politics of such a decision (there’s a useful overview of this here) what’s most intriguing is how this decision will play out within each state, in light of reading Bill Bishop’s The Big Sort, recommended to me by the Yankelovich CEO J Walker Smith.
Bishop writes about the growing clustering of like-minded individuals in small neighbourhoods across the US. His crunching of the data shows that over the last 30 years Americans have sorted themselves into homogenous neighbourhoods, where culture, economics and politics are alike. Individuals look to move to and settle in neighbourhoods of ‘people like me’, and so the political clustering has followed.
The big sort helps to explain the wonderful quote from the playwright Arthur Miller on the 2004 presidential race: “How can the polls be neck and neck when I don’t know one Bush supporter?” It’s about the company one keeps, locally.
The fact that people are less likely to have their views challenged or questioned, because they are less likely to come across individuals who disagree is a serious political (and indeed democratic) concern. Where we shop, who we meet at the school gates, and those we socialise with (physically and virtually) are all likely to share our views, rather than challenge them. And by reinforcing each other’s views our collective position becomes more extreme and more certain over time – thus shrinking the middle ground where political decisions tend to (have to?) be made.
In light of this ‘clustering of like-minded Americans’, it seems sensible decision for Obama and his campaign team to contest every state. For while one might think that California is a ‘blue state’ and Texas a ‘red state’ this simplification hides some real pockets of electorally significant dark red in the blue states, and dark blue in the red states (such as the liberal Austin in Texas, where Bill Bishop lives). So Obama has substantial pockets of support in some strongly red states.
But it’s not enough to know these supporters are there, deep in ‘enemy’ territory, and expect them to vote after getting a bit of attention from the campaign. Obama will need to work very hard to get such individuals to actually vote. That’s because, as Bishop illustrates, individuals are less confident about making their voice heard when their view is in the minority. Bishop quotes survey research on past presidential voting data by a fellow researcher, and concludes:
“rather than buck the majority and risk social sanction, citizens in the minority simply stayed away from the polls. They didn’t vote. In communities with large political majorities, people tend to give up battling over ideas…”
So, from Obama’s point of view, making such people feel that they are not alone and that his ideas are worth fighting for, should increase the likelihood that they will vote come November. If he succeeds, by Bishop’s account, Obama would have the significant challenge of trying to govern a country of ever more extreme groups, each of which is increasingly sure of its own extremist views.
Add comment 2 July 2008
Different day, different hat
['Measuring cups', (c) Christine U'ren]
Becky Rowe writes:
We all live our lives on different planes and engage in diverse activities. As a consultancy we call this repertoire living - the idea that people are not defined by one interest, one value or one perspective, and instead engage in what can sometimes seem contradictory activities, often switching roles in a moment.
The starkness of the different roles I play came to the fore recently, when almost exactly 24 hours after the Millennials breakfast briefing I found myself in Oldham to interview two 19-year-old single mothers about their precarious financial situations. This is repertoire working in extremis. When we think of the Millennials in terms of marketing, we think of bright young things, Topshop shoppers, chatting away on their mobiles, playing on their Wiis - the children of affluent Britain. The reality of living at the other end of the spectrum hit me hard when I interviewed these two young women.
They shared with me how they manage their day-to-day lives on £60 a week. They dream of going to college to further their education and get jobs (one wants to be a social worker, the other a nursery teacher), but can’t afford the £3.90 bus fare it would cost them to get to college, let alone the additional money for childcare. They feel everybody hates them and judges them:
“I would stack shelves, sweep floors, make tea. I don’t want to be on benefits, but nobody will give me a chance. They turn me away before they have already seen me.”
These Millennials aren’t the target audience of big brands. They aren’t the most articulate or the most entrepreneurial. They are not ‘doted on’. I got the impression that our research interview was the first time anyone had listened to their perspective on anything for a long time, although what they said was sensible, interesting and practical.
Yesterday my work was about selling more computer games or jeans. Today it’s about the future of two desperate, young mums. I feel lucky that I get to wear so many hats in my professional role, but on this occasion, the contrast was disheartening.
The picture is by artist Christine U’ren, from her ‘Still Lives’ series. This picture, along with more of her work, can be found on her website.
Add comment 2 May 2008
Questions of class
Andrew Curry writes:
Times feature writer Penny Wark interviewed HCHLV director Michelle Harrison for a two part article the paper published last week (here and here) on the idea of class in modern Britain. Michelle also chairs the Institute for Insight in the Public Services, a public sector think-tank which is a co-venture between HCHLV and BMRB. Penny Wark’s starting point was to challenge the notion that “we’re all middle-class now” - Michelle suggested that notions of class had fragmented into shards defined by a complex mix of values, taste, education and consumption patterns:
“There are lots of middle-income people and there are plenty of highly educated people who are socially middle-class. But lots of these people now can’t afford their own homes, or can’t afford to live where they would like to live. So one of the characteristics of class has been eroded.
“Society is becoming more complex as sub-groups emerge where the old values of the classes and the identity badges have got mixed up. There are the educated middle classes who can’t afford the big-ticket items that they would have had a generation ago - and, rather than what they own or whether they live in a big house, it’s now the everyday consumer choices they make that are characteristic of where people see themselves from a class point of view. They express their values and attitudes in what they buy at the supermarket, especially with green and ethical choices. And their taste comes out in where they holiday, what they read. And there is another group, the people who don’t have the education associated with the middle classes, but who do have money.”
The picture above is from the blog From Baghdad to New York, and an intriguing post there on social class in ancient Sumeria.
Add comment 26 March 2008
