Why does it seem that so many people here are working class?

[Chris.B]

4 hours ago, BritManToo said:

As a Marxist, I'd prefer to be working class.

But sadly due to my university education, I automatically fall into Middle Class.

 

But Karl married a Baroness and was OK with it.

So it's not the ideological end of the world.

You are a bourgeois capitalist and not a comrade then?  ????????

 

[Chainsaw]

4 hours ago, tgw said:

 

nope.

"working class" consists of people who are employed in manual or industrial work.

 

it's not directly related to money, but rare are people with money who choose to be employed in a manual labor job.

one exception might be Forrest Gump at the end of the movie.

"working class" consists of people who are employed in manual or industrial work. - Nonsense! If you 'work' at any job, regardless of earnings you're 'working class' because you 'worked'! Some people do like to feel superior so give themselves middle class titles.

[Chris.B]

4 hours ago, Jingthing said:

It's not only about income levels.

.... so one from the privileged classes says...  ????

[Chris.B]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Probably because your class is defined by your birth parents and your education, and is not related to your wealth. 

So says the university graduate from a middle class home.  5555????

 

[Chris.B]

12 minutes ago, Chainsaw said:

"working class" consists of people who are employed in manual or industrial work. - Nonsense! If you 'work' at any job, regardless of earnings you're 'working class' because you 'worked'! Some people do like to feel superior so give themselves middle class titles.

Hey, hold on a minute, we don't want all these middle class bourgeois in the working class. We are salt of the earth people and the sun shines out of our asses. 

 

 

[bubblegum]

9 hours ago, Chris.B said:

I take it your from the US then?

 

How are you managing to live on a "small government disability pension." in Thailand? ???? What VISA did you arrive on?

 

nope. and no visa

[mikebike]

12 hours ago, Chris.B said:

Not in the UK, still going strong. Born in a council flat I was. Shared toilet and bathroom. In my school, it was an academic achievement if you stayed on at school past 15 years old! ☹️ 

 

Hmmm. That does sound like a by-gone era... ????

[robblok]

13 hours ago, transam said:

Isn't the 'class' thing from a bygone era....?

Not sure what he even means with working class.

 

I mean there is a huge difference between someone who works as an constructor(earning a wage) and someone who owns a construction company (in knowledge levels)

Or a person who works in an high paying IT job or someone who stacks shelves (intelligence wise in general that is)

[Albert Zweistein]

13 hours ago, transam said:

I remember when a plumber went round on a push-bike, now they drive around in a Merc van, so what is he in the class scale. 

I remember the milkman was delivering milk door to door with a horse and carriage. Now no one delivers milk door to door.........................................

[Led Lolly Yellow Lolly]

13 hours ago, transam said:

I remember when a plumber went round on a push-bike, now they drive around in a Merc van, so what is he in the class scale. 

Saab make fighter aircraft. Doesn't make anyone driving a Saab a fighter pilot. In any case, anyone that works for money is a Wiff Waff Wuffian.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2021 by Led Lolly Yellow Lolly

[sipi]

13 hours ago, tgw said:

 

nope.

"working class" consists of people who are employed in manual or industrial work.

 

it's not directly related to money, but rare are people with money who choose to be employed in a manual labor job.

one exception might be Forrest Gump at the end of the movie.

The heaviest thing I pick up is a pen. I'm still not sure I'm upper class.

[fondue zoo]

I'm from a long proud line of riff raff  ..am I doing this right?

[tgw]

8 hours ago, Chainsaw said:

"working class" consists of people who are employed in manual or industrial work. - Nonsense! If you 'work' at any job, regardless of earnings you're 'working class' because you 'worked'! Some people do like to feel superior so give themselves middle class titles.

"working class" actually has a definition, it's not for anyone to make up the meaning. maybe look it up.

[Mutt Daeng]

17 hours ago, Sunderland said:

I'm class! You're class! She's classy as owt. 

Spoken like a true mackem.

[Chainsaw]

4 hours ago, tgw said:

"working class" actually has a definition, it's not for anyone to make up the meaning. maybe look it up.

I did look it up. Lots of confusion there. Predictably, America defines class by income earned, so a highly paid blue collar worker would be middle class - go figure.

 

[Jingthing]

24 minutes ago, Chainsaw said:

I did look it up. Lots of confusion there. Predictably, America defines class by income earned, so a highly paid blue collar worker would be middle class - go figure.

 

That's true to some degree but Americans would still generally consider a college educated white collar middle class person as a higher class than a well paid blue collar worker. The US does have more class awareness than Brits realize.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Jingthing

[Tippaporn]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

That's true to some degree but Americans would still generally consider a college educated white collar middle class person as a higher class than a well paid blue collar worker. The US does have more class awareness than Brits realize.

Would that still hold true if the college degree was in Peace Studies?  Or a degree in Disruption?

[scorecard]

21 hours ago, HashBrownHarry said:

They have many more options of better countries for retirement than Thailand.

I wonder if the OP is meaning foreigners in Thailand or Thai people or both?

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

That's true to some degree but Americans would still generally consider a college educated white collar middle class person as a higher class than a well paid blue collar worker. The US does have more class awareness than Brits realize.

Is this thread about US or Thailand?

[Jingthing]

7 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Is this thread about US or Thailand?

 

It's about expats in Thailand. We bring our bodies. We bring our blood, sweat, tears, <deleted>, and vinegar. We bring our hard currency and soft or hard appendages. We bring some baggage. A lot or a little. Some bring our pets.

 

We bring our class. Or lack thereof.

Edited December 20, 2021 by Jingthing

[Gottfrid]

@Freddy42OZ Much more important! Why do you seem to have a problem with that?

[scorecard]

15 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

 

It's about expats in Thailand. We bring our bodies. We bring our blood, sweat, tears, <deleted>, and vinegar. We bring our hard currency and soft or hard appendages. We bring some baggage. A lot or a little. Some bring our pets.

 

We bring our class. Or lack thereof.

And your ignorant attitudes, for example 'but my freedom'.

[KhunLA]

2 hours ago, Jingthing said:

That's true to some degree but Americans would still generally consider a college educated white collar middle class person as a higher class than a well paid blue collar worker. The US does have more class awareness than Brits realize.

I'm not sure about that, as most 'enlightened' (paper trained or non-diploma'd HiSo), we go by income level ... ????

 

And of course, taxes paid or avoided.  Means 50% of workers / families are low low low class.

Middle income earners, whether blue collar (hands on) or white collar (office) ...  stupid class.

Then there are, HiSo A-holes, that carry all your A$$es ... not sure which are dumber, but we have more toys. ????

Low - both income & tax contribution, bare existence

Middle/stupid / blue-white collar - good salaries, tapped out income on loans, healthcre & tax burden.

High / ????? - good incomes, and silly taxes at 40ish % (fed/state/local) depending on state lived in, and if having to pay.

https://taxfoundation.org/federal-income-tax-data-2021/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAzfuNBhCGARIsAD1nu-9TKYM957dYy3ueQ4GeTG-1FZGWWme9-MRa1g3ILRecG_w0DK6kn0kaAtTOEALw_wcB

 

Edited December 20, 2021 by KhunLA

[Jingthing]

6 minutes ago, scorecard said:

And your ignorant attitudes, for example 'but my freedom'.

Oh no! 

An anonymous poster on the internets doesn't like me.

How shall I cope?

Will I even have the will to moisturize my buttocks today after such a blow?

Ashy butts are the devil's playground.

 

[The Cipher]

22 hours ago, Freddy42OZ said:

It often makes me wonder why this forum seems so heavily weighted towards the working class.  

Where are all the middle class and upper middle class retirees?  

This is by and large due (i) to the birds-of-a-feather effect, which ties in with (ii) the changing foreigner demographics of Thailand over time.

 

As you've noticed, this particular forum has a critical mass of a certain type of person; so it naturally retains more of the same because they engage at a level and with an audience with whom they feel comfortable. Ie, a pool of people with similar life histories, IQs, knowledge/education levels, and socioeconomic status.

 

So why would other demographics spend time here? Quality of information and discourse tends to be low. And the userbase is largely beyond help. So unless you find the folks here to be an entertaining curiosity (which I do, sadly) why waste the time? Possible exception for visa-specific questions.

 

My subjective experience is that there are higher achieving foreigners in Thailand, but they tend to skew younger. And they congregate elsewhere online. Attachment to Thailand is smaller in that demographic and is more a marriage of convenience with shallower roots (although who knows if that'll evolve as time passes).

 

Will Thailand continue to attract more of the type of retiree that characterizes AseanNow? I'm not sure. But I think it might - there are fairly solid advantages to retiring here for many people. Also, before anyone freaks out at me, this was a generalization of the audience group and does not refer to any specific individual(s).

[BritManToo]

2 minutes ago, The Cipher said:

this particular forum has a critical mass of a certain type of person

Pro vax woke liberals?

[VocalNeal]

22 hours ago, Freddy42OZ said:

Where are all the middle class and upper middle class retirees?  

On Teak Door?

Edited December 20, 2021 by VocalNeal

[Jenkins9039]

Because 95% of them are... 4% are middle class, and 1% are 'the upper crust'. 

[tgw]

8 hours ago, Chainsaw said:

I did look it up. Lots of confusion there. Predictably, America defines class by income earned, so a highly paid blue collar worker would be middle class - go figure.

where did you look it up ????

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_class_in_the_United_States

even in the US, there seems to be a consensus around low-skill or low-education labor.

[digbeth]

upper class has better way to spend their time and/or have people to sort out their visas so they don't need to find out by getting down and dirty with the hoi poloi