Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

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IlliniDave
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Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by IlliniDave »

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/wh ... n-a-bubble

I scored 47 which is the midpoint for "first generation upper middle class raised by middle class parents" (with a tiny pinch of first-generation middle class) which is pretty accurate despite some things I felt were not representative of me in the answer choices (a frequent complaint of mine with multiple choice answers). It's interesting that it gauged me that well without explicit questions about the standard things like highest education level, income, identity groups, etc.

Sorry if this was already posted somewhere.

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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by jacob »

I scored 31. Bonus points for having lived in an mobile home park and having held physical jobs. Crashed and burned on the TV and restaurant questions. There might be a special ERE bubble that I live in.

Add: The problem with bubbles is that bubbles tend to be mutual. It shouldn't be too hard to think of a questionnaire that shows rural/blue collar America as its own bubble. In my experience (my family members is about 50/50 white/blue educated/uneducated rural/urban) the bubble-aspect goes both ways.

PS: I wonder if this bubble research is sample-corrected for seeing it via PBS and relating to Charles Murray. That combination occupies an odd place in the Venn space :lol:

Riggerjack
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Riggerjack »

I scored a 71. I'm pretty sure that translates to lower class pretentiousness. :shock:

Laura Ingalls
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Laura Ingalls »

I scored high (52). I think because I go to Marvel movies with my kid and I have lots of non college educated neighbors. I am sorry to say I actively dislike most of them and their noisy dogs. I am escaping to the art museum and good coffee on the other side of town as we speak.

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jennypenny
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by jennypenny »

49

I completely struck out on the TV and restaurant questions (isn't Wendy O. Williams dead??). Got points for living in a low income neighborhood in Philly for 10 years and owning a pickup truck, and for having friends of all different stripes. Bonus points for knowing my insignia. :)

Clarice
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Clarice »

I scored 0. I don't think it has serious class implications for me because I was born and raised in Russia and some of the aspects of American culture are still foreign to me. I used to watch Matlock, Friends, and Seinfeld when I was learning English. By 2009 I had to cut off TV for the benefit of DD.

IlliniDave
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by IlliniDave »

jacob wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:09 am
... Crashed and burned on the TV and restaurant questions. There might be a special ERE bubble that I live in.
Me too--all the restaurants they listed were above my price range, :lol:, for the 3-5 times a year I eat out. TV is another one, I just don't watch much "regular" television. But judging by the commercials one sees watching things like History Channel, Discovery, NGTV, (things I do watch although infrequently) there are lots of folks watching those who are not super-sophisticated (basing that on frequency of advertisements for things like reverse mortgages and "tax debt relief"). No "do you watch your favorite sportsball regularly" questions either. Maybe that's not a discriminant.

I think this quiz essentially ids rural/blue collar just as much as the opposite end of the continuum, even though the point is to illustrate the "elite" being out of touch with the everyday types. I guess you could call it a commutative law of non-mingling or something.

Kriegsspiel
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Kriegsspiel »

60

Not surprising, since military service was a factor in several questions. I ate at 3 of those restaurants in the past year. All for free, on Veteran's Day (the military-ERE-Murraybubble nexus point).

Smashter
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Smashter »

I got a 17.

Recently, my in-laws were talking about taking a trip to Branson, MO. I had no idea Branson was a vacation destination.

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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by jacob »

jacob wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 10:09 am
It shouldn't be too hard to think of a questionnaire that shows rural/blue collar America as its own bubble. In my experience (my family members is about 50/50 white/blue educated/uneducated rural/urban) the bubble-aspect goes both ways.
So without further ado, here's jacob's super-offensive (populist) bubble quiz.

Have you lived for more than 15 years in the state you're currently living in?
Do you still live less than 300 miles from where you spent the majority of your childhood?
As an adult have you ever visited another country? (Not counting Mexico or Canada)
Do you speak another language not counting English or Spanish? (Do you know enough to order beer or buy an airplane ticket?)
Do you read/watch any news on a regular basis from non-US sources?

How many supreme court justices can you name?
How many people died in the Holocaust? (half a million, two million, five million, fifteen million, fifty million)
Quick answer: Are you in favor of bombing Agrabah?
How many names do you recognize? (Steven Pinker, Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, David Graeber, Thomas Sowell)
Which nationality was Kant?

Have you created a spreadsheet since leaving school?
What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word "compound"? (survival, interest, bow, sentence, chemical)
Do you exercise regularly? (consistently more than 2 times a week)
Have you eaten any of the following vegetables during the last week? (kale, rutabaga, shallot, arugula, endive) (score 5 given any)
Have you ever chosen to live without a car for more than 2 years?

Do you go to church/Do you have any atheist friends? (score 5 is yes to both, otherwise 0)
Have you ever worked in a place where everybody had at least a 4 year degree?
Have you or any of your close friends ever been arrested?
Have you ever written something (essay, thesis, ... ) that was longer than 4000 words?
Have you ever used powerpoint or similar to give a presentation at work?

There are 20 questions. Award yourself 5 points for each according to which way the sign obviously points.
For checkbox questions, give yourself 1 point for each or whatever makes sense on a scale from 0 to 5.

Lets just say that I know a few who would score a flat 0 on this as well as some who would get near 100.

Kriegsspiel
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Kriegsspiel »

Smashter wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 11:36 am
I got a 17.

Recently, my in-laws were talking about taking a trip to Branson, MO. I had no idea Branson was a vacation destination.
I heard about Branson from my Evangelical friend, but I still picked Richard Branson cus I knew of him first.

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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by jacob »

Smashter wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 11:36 am
I had no idea Branson was a vacation destination.
LOL, I didn't know what Myrtle Beach was until someone (Ego?) brought it up when we were constructing the ERE Wheaton table a couple of years ago. Then only a few months later a family member brought it up as her dream vacation spot to go to some day. I'm not making this up.

Tyler9000
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Tyler9000 »

I scored 56.

Maybe I'm just sensitive to this type of thing, but I admit I don't particularly care for how the questions seem to be written from the perspective of someone inside the bubble looking out. A few loaded questions implying unfair stereotypes (low education, unsophisticated diet, etc) stick out to me as self-serving and bubble-preserving. Growing up far from either coast, I've got a nose for articles about flyover country that speak with the voice of an ethnographer writing about some quaint undeveloped culture with funny rituals rather than truly engaging with different people and experiences.

That said, I give them credit for honing in on how lots of people are pretty out of touch with mainstream America. Having lived in both a low-income Texas neighborhood and an ultra-rich California city, I've seen both sides and it's kinda comical.
Last edited by Tyler9000 on Wed Sep 05, 2018 5:40 pm, edited 6 times in total.

IlliniDave
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by IlliniDave »

I got about 36.5 on jacob's quiz. I guess I'm not very, er, whatever it is a test for, or very much so whatever is being tested for. The implied values of the quiz are interesting. E.g., you get points for being a homebody (not relocating far or often), but no points for anything less than intercontinental travel (assuming yes=yes in scoring).

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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by jacob »

@iDave - I think you got the scoring sign wrong on some of them then insofar you interpreted it that way. My mistake...I kinda left it as an undefined/exercise because I didn't formulate the questions so they pointed in the same way. I was modeling the questions on my personal focus group (family, former neighbors, ... ). Basically you get points for ever leaving [your familiar] county whether as a tourist or a permanent relocation. Most of my focus group, which I tailored this test for so they would utterly fail or succeed, has never/rarely left their childhood valley (physically, mentally, educationally, spiritually, or when it comes to politics or values).

Whereas Murray's quiz asked [white collars] if they ever lived in a city with less than 50k people or at intimately familiar with TGI and Wendys ... there are also [blue collars] who have not put a foot on the ground in a city of >250k or eaten a full meal based on green vegetables within the last decade. My quiz is basically what Murray did but with the opposite sign. Hit a bunch of stereotypes with a scattergun. Then do some stats and create a narrative.

My point was that as much as there is an elitist bubble who don't understand anything that's going on outside their bubble, there's also a populist bubble who don't understand anything that's going on outside their bubble. I deal with this [communications] gap every thxgiving---and every time I log onto facebook. Fun stuff :?

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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by jacob »

Sample answer/signed scoring based on, uh, a random model aggregate derived from representative friends/relatives of mine.

Have you lived for more than 15 years in the state you're currently living in?

Yes, my parents moved here in 1988. I went to highschool [here] and then I got a job in [nearby city small business]. (score = 0)

Do you still live less than 300 miles from where you spent the majority of your childhood?

Yes and most of my family still live here except X and Y who moved to [other state]. (score=0)

As an adult have you ever visited another country? (Not counting Mexico or Canada)

No. I've been to Niagara Falls once but I guess that doesn't count. (right, even if you went to the "Canadian side", score=0)

Do you speak another language not counting English or Spanish? (Do you know enough to order beer or buy an airplane ticket?)

I only speak English. If you live in America you should speak English (score=0)

Do you read/watch any news on a regular basis from non-US sources?

Not sure what you mean, I read all the news on facebook. I do my research. (score=0)

How many supreme court justices can you name?

No idea, LOL (score = 0)

How many people died in the Holocaust? (half a million, two million, five million, fifteen million, fifty million)

Dunno, half a million? (score = 0)

Quick answer: Are you in favor of bombing Agrabah?

Yes, I support our troops (score = 0)

How many names do you recognize? (Steven Pinker, Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, David Graeber, Thomas Sowell)

I'm not sure. No ... (score = 0)

Which nationality was Kant?

Who? (score = 0)

Have you created a spreadsheet since leaving school?

Yes, my boss made me do it once because I understand computers (score = 3)

What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word "compound"? (survival, interest, bow, sentence, chemical)\

compound bow, I hunt ... oh, and compound sentence of course haha... (score = 1)

Do you exercise regularly? (consistently more than 2 times a week)

I probably should but not really LOL (score = 0)

Have you eaten any of the following vegetables during the last week? (kale, rutabaga, shallot, arugula, endive) (score 5 given any)

What????? You know I don't eat kale (score = 0)

Have you ever chosen to live without a car for more than 2 years?

I didn't get a car until I was 21 because I couldn't afford it, does that count? (no, score = 0)

Do you go to church/Do you have any atheist friends? (score 5 is yes to both, otherwise 0)

Not really/I'm not sure (score = 0)

Have you ever worked in a place where everybody had at least a 4 year degree?

I work in medical billing, so I guess so (not really, you don't, so score = 0)

Have you or any of your close friends ever been arrested?

No! ... ohh well, once the cops stopped me driving because I didn't have my license yet ... and also there was this party when the cops showed up. And my cousin went to jail for possession so I guess I have to say yes. But that was a long time so does it still count? (yes, score = 0)

Have you ever written something (essay, thesis, ... ) that was longer than 4000 words?

I wrote some stuff for one my classes for when I went to college for my associates degree. I don't know how many words, it was almost 8 pages (score = 0)

Have you ever used powerpoint or similar to give a presentation at work?

No, I mostly just answer the phone. I made a powerpoint presentation in college (score = 0)

=====

Sorry, I'm probably going to hell now right along into Murray's circle... in my defense, these are reality-based data points based on a randomly assembled compound individual who also turns out to live in a bubble made out of vulcanized rubber. We still don't really relate but we try.

Riggerjack
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Riggerjack »

So without further ado, here's jacob's super-offensive (populist) bubble quiz.

Have you lived for more than 15 years in the state you're currently living in? YES
Do you still live less than 300 miles from where you spent the majority of your childhood? YES
As an adult have you ever visited another country? (Not counting Mexico or Canada)NO
Do you speak another language not counting English or Spanish? (Do you know enough to order beer or buy an airplane ticket?) After a year and a half of HS French, NO.
Do you read/watch any news on a regular basis from non-US sources? No. I used to, but I have cut all "news" out of my life. I will follow links if interesting, but news is so close to content free, it's usually a net loss to read it.

How many supreme court justices can you name? 5 current justices, but I could score much higher if we count past justices. I'm just very bad at names. I would be more interested in how many cases a justice "crossed the line" could be identified. For instance, Sotomayor recently ruled in Collins vs Virginia, for privacy more strongly than Thomas. Though Thomas did leave the state's authority question open, specifically.
How many people died in the Holocaust? (half a million, two million, five million, fifteen million, fifty million) where do you draw the line? Nazis? About 5-6M. Stalin few million before, untold millions during, many millions after the war. Chinese casualties to the empire of Japan, I don't know of a number, our WWII history is very eurocentric. Would you count the post war Chinese casualties? Let's just call it too many.
Quick answer: Are you in favor of bombing Agrabah? Yes. That much singing and dancing must be stopped.
How many names do you recognize? (Steven Pinker, Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, David Graeber, Thomas Sowell) just Sowell.
Which nationality was Kant? German, of some variation.

Have you created a spreadsheet since leaving school? Yes
What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word "compound"? (survival, interest, bow, sentence, chemical) my retirement compound, but that's because my wife uses that term.
Do you exercise regularly? (consistently more than 2 times a week) sadly, no.
Have you eaten any of the following vegetables during the last week? (kale, rutabaga, shallot, arugula, endive) (score 5 given any)kale is a regular, none of the rest are regular.
Have you ever chosen to live without a car for more than 2 years? Yes, but my live in girlfriend at the time had wheels, and I had a company van. Probably not what you are looking for.

Do you go to church/Do you have any atheist friends? (score 5 is yes to both, otherwise 0) I'm agnostic atheist, and all my in-laws have church related activities 6 days a week. Again, probably not what you are looking for.
Have you ever worked in a place where everybody had at least a 4 year degree? Yes. But I wasn't there doing what they were doing.
Have you or any of your close friends ever been arrested? yes. This is far more common at the bottom...
Have you ever written something (essay, thesis, ... ) that was longer than 4000 words? No, and I'm surprised at how difficult I find this to be.
Have you ever used powerpoint or similar to give a presentation at work? No. Presentations were usually very hands on, direct instruction. PowerPoint seems to exist to obscure lessons in pretty pictures, for those without the attention span to follow along without a story and pictures. Or maybe that's just how I see it used.

So yeah, I think I score lower class pretentiousness on both quizzes.

IlliniDave
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by IlliniDave »

jacob wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:57 pm
My point was that as much as there is an elitist bubble who don't understand anything that's going on outside their bubble, there's also a populist bubble who don't understand anything that's going on outside their bubble. I deal with this [communications] gap every thxgiving---and every time I log onto facebook. Fun stuff :?
I agree with this, and actually think the original quiz would identify both those bubbles via very high or very low scores. Yours would too, of course (assuming I coulda grokked it to start with).

The "slant" of the original is such as it is simply because of Murray's hypothesis that the elite (more/less those "in charge") are generally handicapped in that role by being disconnected from those they are supposed to lead. Hence Trump, in a sense, or at the least the "surprise" that he was able to win. That PBS article is from 2012, so moderately prescient.

He could have just as easily called it the "Are you a Joe Six-Pack Quiz". That's actually closer to what the identified behaviors point to.

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Seppia
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by Seppia »

I got a 29, but let's have fun with jacob's test

Have you lived for more than 15 years in the state you're currently living in?
I have lived in 3 different countries in the last 15 years. I guess that's a 5

Do you still live less than 300 miles from where you spent the majority of your childhood?
Today Yes! I'm about 450km so very close to the cutoff. 0

As an adult have you ever visited another country? (Not counting Mexico or Canada)
Definitely 5

Do you speak another language not counting English or Spanish? (Do you know enough to order beer or buy an airplane ticket?) yes 5

Do you read/watch any news on a regular basis from non-US sources? Yes 5

How many supreme court justices can you name? Only the one that's being confirmed right now, and only because of that video of his assistant flashing a white power sign. But I'm not sure how his name is spelled. Cavanaugh? I guess 1?

How many people died in the Holocaust? (half a million, two million, five million, fifteen million, fifty million)

I would have said five millions because I only counted the Jews, according to Wikipedia it's more like 15 millions if we count every nationality. What do I get? Let's say 2, as I guess most people would interpret the question as"how many Jews"

Quick answer: Are you in favor of bombing Agrabah? I have no idea where that is. 0

How many names do you recognize? (Steven Pinker, Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, David Graeber, Thomas Sowell)
Gladwell and Lewis. 2

Which nationality was Kant?
German. I give myself a 4 because I had to google to confirm 100%

Have you created a spreadsheet since leaving school? More than I can count. 5

What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word "compound"?
Interest. 5?

Do you exercise regularly? (consistently more than 2 times a week). Tricky one. The answer today is yes, but have done it for a month only. Still, I played sports 4 times a week at least from age 10 to age 25, and exercised regularly for most of my adult life. One of the few exceptions was the last three years. I give myself a 2 on this one.

Have you eaten any of the following vegetables during the last week? (kale, rutabaga, shallot, arugula, endive). Yes Arugula and shallot. 5

Have you ever chosen to live without a car for more than 2 years? Yes. 5

Do you go to church/Do you have any atheist friends? Sometimes / yes. 0?

Have you ever worked in a place where everybody had at least a 4 year degree? No. 0

Have you or any of your close friends ever been arrested? no. 5

Have you ever written something (essay, thesis, ... ) that was longer than 4000 words?
A 100 page essay in econometrics. 5

Have you ever used powerpoint or similar to give a presentation at work? At least monthly. 5.

Total 66

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jennypenny
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Re: Quiz: Do you live in a bubble (elitist)

Post by jennypenny »

jacob wrote:
Wed Sep 05, 2018 12:09 pm
Have you lived for more than 15 years in the state you're currently living in? yes
Do you still live less than 300 miles from where you spent the majority of your childhood? yes
As an adult have you ever visited another country? (Not counting Mexico or Canada) yes (are we counting puerto rico? ;) )
Do you speak another language not counting English or Spanish? (Do you know enough to order beer or buy an airplane ticket?) Yes. If the standard is only being able to play cards or get by in a bar, the list includes French, German, Polish and Irish. I speak spanish though and I'm mad I don't get credit for that. :P
Do you read/watch any news on a regular basis from non-US sources? yes

How many supreme court justices can you name? current? all
How many people died in the Holocaust? (half a million, two million, five million, fifteen million, fifty million) isn't the official number 6MM?
Quick answer: Are you in favor of bombing Agrabah? I used to be, but I read on TripAdvisor that it's really nice.
How many names do you recognize? (Steven Pinker, Michael Lewis, Malcolm Gladwell, David Graeber, Thomas Sowell) aren't they the justices?
Which nationality was Kant? German

Have you created a spreadsheet since leaving school? at least one/week :(
What's the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word "compound"? (survival, interest, bow, sentence, chemical) David Koresh
Do you exercise regularly? (consistently more than 2 times a week) unfortunately
Have you eaten any of the following vegetables during the last week? (kale, rutabaga, shallot, arugula, endive) (score 5 given any) shallots and arugula
Have you ever chosen to live without a car for more than 2 years? not gonna happen

Do you go to church/Do you have any atheist friends? (score 5 is yes to both, otherwise 0) yes/yes ... I have atheist friends who go to church -- do I get extra points?
Have you ever worked in a place where everybody had at least a 4 year degree? no, thank goodness
Have you or any of your close friends ever been arrested? never convicted
Have you ever written something (essay, thesis, ... ) that was longer than 4000 words? yes
Have you ever used powerpoint or similar to give a presentation at work? Does an overhead projector count?

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