tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post2848828081651306751..comments2024-03-12T22:31:46.500-04:00Comments on What Would Phoebe Do?: Posted from a coffee shopPhoebe Maltz Bovyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-63738418557076715172012-12-10T20:01:51.867-05:002012-12-10T20:01:51.867-05:00PG and, I now see, Britta:
I think my qualms addr...PG and, I now see, Britta:<br /><br />I think my qualms address most of what you both bring up, but...<br /><br />Yes, cultural capital can matter - see my qualm #3. But far too often, we assume 'white and college-educated' means 'set for life,' when it does not.<br /><br />As for what % of English majors are hipsters, this gets to qualm #1 - who exactly is being discussed? I take it that "hipsters" in this post are liberal-arts BAs. It's a frustrating term, because it's so imprecise, and with this post in particular, there's a not-quite-articulated gender angle.Phoebe Maltz Bovyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17996039330841139883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-84867104016928888492012-12-10T19:48:54.248-05:002012-12-10T19:48:54.248-05:00I skimmed that article and found it annoying. Engl...I skimmed that article and found it annoying. English majors are contrasted with lawyer, never mind law school is one of the most common things English majors do after graduation. Likewise, "hipster" is some immutable identity which means that white/Asian middle class people can't work in service, apparently, since they're "hipsters." (note to author: ironic T-shirts can come off and be replaced by button ups). <br /><br />It also misses the huge point that where you graduate from college matters far more than what you study, really. An English major from Harvard or UChicago is employable, somewhere, at something, which is respectable and middle class. It's true that the first job may not be, but most people with cultural capital end up doing ok in the end, in part because of reasons PG lists. Also, people with cultural capital usually were raised by people with cultural capital, and probably have some sort of connections somewhere with someone with a white collar profession. <br /><br />College majors with truly bleak prospects are not hipsters, but first generation college students who take on exorbitant loans to go to a terrible school and major in something not practical/vocational. There is definitely people for whom apprenticing in automotive repair is a far better choice than getting an English degree from Rip-off U, but these aren't the people going to UChicago or Hampshire. Brittahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02224221011978374915noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7146512.post-69031440081428890172012-12-10T18:16:09.508-05:002012-12-10T18:16:09.508-05:00Put another way: 'cultural capital' is an ...<i>Put another way: 'cultural capital' is an interesting idea to toss around in seminar, but it doesn't pay the rent.</i><br /><br />It doesn't in itself pay the rent, but surely there are a host of jobs, especially in the service sector, where white middle-class manners -- a vocabulary, a modulation of voice, an accent, an appearance, an ability to interact with coworkers or clients pleasingly -- are useful in obtaining jobs that then pay the rent. Maybe hipsters specifically are bad at retail (or being receptionists, assistants, etc.), but they're truly a pretty small subgroup of the masses of English majors graduating every year. A history major is a perfectly good preparation for joining the Foreign Service -- so is Latin American studies or sociology or whatever. Ditto for many other jobs in various bureaucracies, including some private sector ones.<br /><br />Also, as with certain parts of <a href="http://www.blogdenovo.org/archives/000831.html" rel="nofollow">law school</a>, undergraduate accomplishments (not just a degree in itself, admittedly) are useful for "tricking" employers, in that they are seen as a proxy for useful abilities <i>coupled with</i> intelligence. If you graduate with high honors <i>and</i> were Editor in Chief of a college paper with a couple dozen staffers, then even with a liberal arts BA, that's a proxy for "works hard, can deal with multiple responsibilities simultaneously, can manage people and deal with the public." Maybe you could make the same impression by having worked your way up to manager at Trader Joe's in the same 4 years, but I doubt it.PGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09381347581328622706noreply@blogger.com