Take the PBS News Hour quiz! What is your "Out of Touch" Score?

[Goldielocks]

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/do-you-live-in-a-bubble-a-quiz-2/


This poll is to see how in or out of touch the MMM community is with self proclaimed "American culture"...

I think the results for our community will be very very interesting!  I can't guess at all, between our Farmstache-ers and the DINK's on fast track to FIRE from the urban center without a car...

[tiger002]

I got a 38, curious what others will get. I think this would have more to do with people's background, vs how Mustachianism they are, but it still might be interesting to see how people here compare with the world as a whole.

[Sailor Sam]

I got 54, but I definitely grew up middle class, not the working class the test pegged me at. I think my military service skewed the results.

[Frankies Girl]

Got a 33. Raised lower middle class, but by highly educated parents who just happened to like being really frugal (cheap) and also the first generation of achieving college education.

[obstinate]

7. But then again I knew that my culture is not that of the mainstream. It is not a goal of mine to be like the typical American.

[bobechs]

I got 54, but I definitely grew up middle class, not the working class the test pegged me at. I think my military service skewed the results.

57 for me.  Military dependent of parents who came from, and preserved, rural roots, served in the CG, worked as civilian at times for AF and Army.

But otoh, lived outside US as child and adult about 1/3 of my life, multiple graduate degrees, only bought cheap beer because it was cheap and don't have or watch TV, except in hotel rooms.

Can't say that I think the score says much, except perhaps at its very scale ends.

[former player]

34.  Although I had to cheat and ignore the "in America" bits.  Still accurate enough for the (middling and very well-off) middle class child of (much less well-off) middle class parents.

[lizzzi]

I got 60, but don't really "get" the significance. Child of working-class family, became nurse, Air Force veteran.

[Rural]

55 here - working class background, rural, but no TV for a decade, so I don't even recognize the names of most of the shows.


 Also the movie question - I think it was trying to identify who goes to popular vs highbrow movies? But we don't drive the 45 miles to a theater (except new Star Wars). They were trying to hit on the rural thing in some of the early questions but then forgot about it and explicitly excluded rural people in some of the later ones. (Chain restaurant, too - I had to say no on most of the chain restaurants because there isn't one for 100 miles; one I'd never heard of.)

[Paul der Krake]

Elitist asshat here- 14 points. I have never set foot in any of the restaurants listed. I think the only points I got were from purchasing a 24 pack of Budweiser, seeing a couple movies, and visiting a factory floor.

[jim555]

37

[iris lily]

Elitist asshat here- 14 points. I have never set foot in any of the restaurants listed. I think the only points I got were from purchasing a 24 pack of Budweiser, seeing a couple movies, and visiting a factory floor.

I got a score of 24. I may have once set foot n a factory floor, but
I don't remember it, so I marked  my answer "no."

I am middle class all the way and my"upper" middle class trend seems to come from tastes in restaurants, films, and tv. My city has fabulous independent restaurants, so we never go to chains.

[Roots&Wings]

16. My points likely came from having a friend who got C's, once riding a long-distance bus, and participating in a 4th of July parade once. Branson would have meant Downton Abbey to me but they didn't have that option so went with no idea.

[Cyanne]

My score was 50. I grew up with working class parents but now I am upper middle class.

[SomedayStache]

37.

I never get points for anything pop culture because I don't watch TV or go to movies.  We couldn't afford cable growing up and I just never got into the habit, plus who has time?

I guess I feel I should have scored higher because I don't live in a bubble!  But probably I do live in a bubble.  All my friends are progressive liberals and even when I was a poor waitress surviving on bread sticks from work and stolen toilet paper I was in college and always thought the situation was temporary.  (So didn't get points for some questions because it was 'during college').

But 'upper-middle class'?  Me? Really?  Huh.  I'm shaking my head over here.

[Uturn]

I got a 77, which really surprises me because, except for 1 year of truck driving 12 years ago, I've been in IT in the DFW area since 1996.   

[HPstache]

47

[EricL]

Upon digging, I found this about the survey's author: "Charles Murray is a political scientist, author and libertarian. Murray is the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He coauthored “The Bell Curve” with the late Richard J. Herrnstein. Murray is the author of "Coming Apart" and “By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission"

"The Bell Curve" for those too young to remember, was a popularized statistical study showing Afro Americans to be basically stupider than Caucasians. Coincidentally, the year of its publication I attended college statistics course and an Afro American student brought it to our old white dude professor. The professor was thrilled to receive it. He used it to base the "lies, damn lies and statistics" phase of the class on. In his analysis it was a cavalcade of cherry picked, deliberately misinterpreted, and misleading data jury rigged together to prove a racist point.

Screw this survey.

[justajane]

Another elite asshat apparently: 19. I have a PhD, so I'll accept the label.

My dad was an engineer, my mom a nurse. My dad's dad was a pharmacist, my dad's mom a teacher. But my mom's dad was a textile merchant, so I don't know how that fits.

Because I grew up in a Mustachian household, I thought we were poor. But I always knew my family was educated and talked about pretty high level things at the dinner table. But my parents are evangelical Christians. I wasn't sure what that question was about. I know many highly educated evangelical Christians, even though I personally don't consider myself one, at least not anymore. 

[Cassie]

52. I grew up in a working class family but my dad had a skilled trade and worked in an auto factory so our standard of living was middle class.  My generation was the first to go to college in my family.  As an adult I have lived in many different places from small towns to big cities. I found it fun to take but with a grain of salt.

[Lski'stash]

42–100: A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits. Typical: 66.'

I got a score of 51. I suppose the description is pretty spot-on for me. Father is a plumber and mother works as a CNA for nursing homes. I went on to get my bachelor's and master's in teaching.

I've actually written in-depth papers for my master's degree on this topic as my degree covers socio-economic-status. My parents, while emotionally very supportive of my going to college, had no idea what to do. I handled all of the financial aspects of it myself and worked all the way through college. My mother and I still don't quite see eye-to-eye on many things (see: religion and politics), although as I've gotten older I've learned to let it go and our relationship has gotten closer. I've learned how to handle all of my finances myself, as well (Thanks, MMM Community!).

Interesting fact: 1/3 of first generation college graduates become teachers.

[Lski'stash]

16. My points likely came from having a friend who got C's, once riding a long-distance bus, and participating in a 4th of July parade once. Branson would have meant Downton Abbey to me but they didn't have that option so went with no idea.

+1 for Branson! Why wasn't he an option for that??

[Paul der Krake]

16. My points likely came from having a friend who got C's, once riding a long-distance bus, and participating in a 4th of July parade once. Branson would have meant Downton Abbey to me but they didn't have that option so went with no idea.

+1 for Branson! Why wasn't he an option for that??

Watching Downton Abbey immediately deducts 100 points from your score.

[lostamonkey]

I'm Canadian not American but I only got a score of 9. I guess I'm very out of touch with the American middle class.

[woopwoop]

Upon digging, I found this about the survey's author: "Charles Murray is a political scientist, author and libertarian. Murray is the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. He coauthored “The Bell Curve” with the late Richard J. Herrnstein. Murray is the author of "Coming Apart" and “By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission"

"The Bell Curve" for those too young to remember, was a popularized statistical study showing Afro Americans to be basically stupider than Caucasians. Coincidentally, the year of its publication I attended college statistics course and an Afro American student brought it to our old white dude professor. The professor was thrilled to receive it. He used it to base the "lies, damn lies and statistics" phase of the class on. In his analysis it was a cavalcade of cherry picked, deliberately misinterpreted, and misleading data jury rigged together to prove a racist point.

Screw this survey.

Wow, interesting background. Thanks for doing the digging!

[SailorGirl]

The survey makes no sense.  I got a 20 but grew up with a SAHM and a dad in the military.  I don't go out to any restaurants, any movies, drink any beer, or watch any television.  I'm sure most of my previous neighbors had college degrees but not the ones nearest to me.  Not sure how I could be so bubbly.

[randymarsh]

41.

Right on the money I suppose. My parents had blue collar-ish careers when I was a young child, but they were office work and skilled blue collar work. They both went back to school as I got older and are now members of the non-doctor/lawyer professional class.

The quiz seems biased towards those who don't live in large cities. My hometown just didn't have many local restaurants. If you refused to go to Applebees/Chili's/etc you'd NEVER eat out. Even if you were a doctor, you'd eat at these places. But as a recent college graduate with a negative net worth, I rarely eat at those places in Denver since there are so many good bars/pubs/local places just a short walk away.

I guess I could read the author's book, but I wish the article went into more detail about this "new" upper class. Who are they, how much $ do they make, where do they live?

[Roots&Wings]

16. My points likely came from having a friend who got C's, once riding a long-distance bus, and participating in a 4th of July parade once. Branson would have meant Downton Abbey to me but they didn't have that option so went with no idea.

+1 for Branson! Why wasn't he an option for that??

Watching Downton Abbey immediately deducts 100 points from your score.

Probably 150 if you watch it via dvd's from the public library.

[FIREby35]

33

[Bracken_Joy]

64, which seems ridiculous to me. But I think there's a pretty strong sway toward rural = thin bubble.

I think we analyzed this a bit in one of the journals... Monkey Jenga's? Anyway, very interesting!

[Primm]

48, and I second the "rural=thin bubble" assessment. I did substitute the word "Australian" for "American" in all the questions though...

Grew up on a farm so parents qualified as blue collar, and worked on the farm after school (hence "aching bones" work), but truthfully my parents' farm is a multiple-thousands of hectares property with a turnover in the 6-7 figures per year and employees, so I'm not sure that's exactly "working class". All my nieces and nephews (still on the farm) go to private boarding schools despite having perfectly good public schools in the area. Anyway, it's a bit of a screwy quiz IMO.

[vern]

Nobody is more out of touch with the working class than the PBS News Hour.

[Dicey]

I got a 44, to which I call bullshit.

"42–100: A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits. "

Um, both of my parents were professionals (Air Traffic Controller, Registered Nurse). I haven't seen any of the listed movies, don't watch any of the TV series named and have never watched Dr. Phil, a full episode of Ellen (though I dig her for being true to herself and kind to others), and I've never heard of Wendy Whoever. Oh, and my grandparents were born in the US of A.

Am I so out of touch that I broke the quiz?

[BlueMR2]

63 - "A first-generation middle-class person with working-class parents and average television and movie going habits."

Pretty close.  Grew up in a marginal neighborhood in the city full of just barely above poverty blue collar workers.  Seemed nice at the time as the neighboring areas were truly poor in comparison.  We were on food stamps for awhile.  Familiar with all things low class while growing up.  :-)  I remember the parents saving up for a couple months to do a single date night at a "fancy" place (which to them was the cheapest meal they could get at Red Lobster).

Not much of a TV/movie person currently, but I've got that background and my wife practically lives in front of the TV/DVD player.

[Joggernot]

Nobody is more out of touch with the working class than the PBS News Hour.

+1

[MonkeyJenga]

I'm Canadian not American but I only got a score of 9. I guess I'm very out of touch with the American middle class.

I'm American and I got a 7.

64, which seems ridiculous to me. But I think there's a pretty strong sway toward rural = thin bubble.

I think we analyzed this a bit in one of the journals... Monkey Jenga's? Anyway, very interesting!

Possibly. I do remember taking this quiz before. Who wants to search through 80 pages of journals to find out??

[nereo]

I got a 38.
I think the fact that we rarely eat out at any restaurants (and we don't have any of those listed within 20 miles of us) and that we don't  have cable nor go to the movies really knocked down my score.
I knew who both "J. Johnsons" were but didn't know the spelling was different (perhaps because I don't read SI and can't remember ever seeing it in print).

I wonder why i got a deduction for not having domestic beer in my fridge, but there was no quesiton about whether I had Jim Bean on my counter...

[FIREby35]

A thought I had about this quiz last night - "American Middle Class" means "White American Middle Class." I didn't get asked about anything that would have touched on all the Latino/Spanish stuff I do. For example, the tv shows and movies didn't include anything like that. There was no question about, "Have you ever attended a quincinera?"

It's not really a criticism, just a thing to point out. This is the same thing I see in politics. Palin says you are a "real American" if you are her kind of American. There is a whole parallell America that isn't just white people and culture that might affect our "bubbles." I happen to think I get out a lot with people outside my socioeconomic level - they just happen to be Latinos and not within the scope of this survey.

[TravelJunkyQC]

I got a 16. And as someone else stated, it isn't my goal to be the typical American (I was born and raised in the States, so I thought about the time when I was young and in the US, instead of today in QC). According to their description, this would mean I'm at least a second generation upper class. However, my parents were immigrant students without a penny to each of their names when they arrived in the US in the 70s. They should take into account parents' home culture when considering why someone would get a score of 0 to 20. TV and movies isn't really part of either of their cultures, so it isn't part of mine.

[GuitarStv]

44 (although I changed all the 'American' parts of the questions to 'Canadian').

[Paul der Krake]

It's not really a criticism, just a thing to point out. This is the same thing I see in politics. Palin says you are a "real American" if you are her kind of American. There is a whole parallell America that isn't just white people and culture that might affect our "bubbles." I happen to think I get out a lot with people outside my socioeconomic level - they just happen to be Latinos and not within the scope of this survey.

FiveThirtyEight had a great article on this recently:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/normal-america-is-not-a-small-town-of-white-people/

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

I got a 41, but I think it's good to always be skeptical of these sorts of things as some have pointed out already. I got some points for knowing (but not being) a fundamentalist Christian.

[Goldielocks]

Thanks, everyone.  I got a 60..  but I admit I stretched it a bit just to see.   I agree with the other posters, though, that this seems awfully unscientific.

For example, My dad was in the military (reserves) to pay for trade school, and my son will be encouraged to look at joining the reserves as well.. but I receieved zero scores for military. (Male bias in scoring).

I did not grow up in poverty, or anywhere remotely near it, as my Dad's final career was pilot, and he made a LOT of money after I was 6 years old or so...  but my grandparents were definitely at, under, barely over the poverty line until their 50's, and my mom did not get electricity to the farm until 1958 or so.   I have lived mainly in "blue collar" neighborhoods, but around here that means 90k - $120k family income. 

My first job as an engineer began with working on a production line, and my uniform job was to go inspect sewer installations.  Both as an engineer, though.

[sonjak]

38

[Cpa Cat]

I got 34. Seems too high. I'm pretty out of touch with American working class culture.

My score was bloated by the fact that I visited a factory floor regularly as part of my job (I feel like financial statement auditor was not what they were going for here), and that I drink domestic beer (actually, I mix it with tomato juice). Also, I seemed to have gotten bonus points for actually having gone to Branson, MO - but my husband and I ended the vacation early after realizing that it was not the place for us.

If you remove factory floor, domestic beer, and Branson - my score is only 4. :p

[FIREby35]

It's not really a criticism, just a thing to point out. This is the same thing I see in politics. Palin says you are a "real American" if you are her kind of American. There is a whole parallell America that isn't just white people and culture that might affect our "bubbles." I happen to think I get out a lot with people outside my socioeconomic level - they just happen to be Latinos and not within the scope of this survey.

FiveThirtyEight had a great article on this recently:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/normal-america-is-not-a-small-town-of-white-people/

Thanks for the link. That is exactly what I'm talking about and I see it all the time.

[Rural]

48, and I second the "rural=thin bubble" assessment. I did substitute the word "Australian" for "American" in all the questions though...

 Interesting that you guys had this take on it, and I saw the score being lowered by being rural (that is, produced a thicker bubble). I think a lot of that was just the pop-culture stuff for me – things like movies and restaurants that aren't available if you're rural enough.  I do see, I guess, that if you don't feel like you fit the American lower class at all, some of the questions would still give you points in spite of that. I scored lower than I probably should have, as someone who very much does fit (did fit as a child may be more appropriate) but lives too rurally to hit on some  of the pop-culture stuff.


Edit because stupid iPad

[Bracken_Joy]

48, and I second the "rural=thin bubble" assessment. I did substitute the word "Australian" for "American" in all the questions though...

 Interesting that you guys had this take on it, and I saw the score being lowered by being rural (that is, produced a thicker bubble). I think a lot of that was just the pop-culture stuff for me – things like movies and restaurants that aren't available if you're rural enough.  I do see, I guess, that if you don't feel like you fit the American lower class at all, some of the questions would still give you points in spite of that. I scored lower than I probably should have, as someone who very much does fit (did fit as a cold may be more appropriate) but lives too rurally to hit on some  of the pop-culture stuff.

Maybe it's because I was rural and transitioned to urban- so I can say yes to fishing and pickups and evangelical christians and friends with differing political views and small town, but I can also say yes to factory work and restaurants and TV shows. Because most of the rural questions are essentially "have you ever", while the more urban ones are "have you lately".

[Rural]

48, and I second the "rural=thin bubble" assessment. I did substitute the word "Australian" for "American" in all the questions though...

 Interesting that you guys had this take on it, and I saw the score being lowered by being rural (that is, produced a thicker bubble). I think a lot of that was just the pop-culture stuff for me – things like movies and restaurants that aren't available if you're rural enough.  I do see, I guess, that if you don't feel like you fit the American lower class at all, some of the questions would still give you points in spite of that. I scored lower than I probably should have, as someone who very much does fit (did fit as a cold may be more appropriate) but lives too rurally to hit on some  of the pop-culture stuff.

Maybe it's because I was rural and transitioned to urban- so I can say yes to fishing and pickups and evangelical christians and friends with differing political views and small town, but I can also say yes to factory work and restaurants and TV shows. Because most of the rural questions are essentially "have you ever", while the more urban ones are "have you lately".

That may be it. I did the same transition as you, rural to urban, but then went back to rural again about a decade ago (much to my father's glee). Those ten years are too long for what I'm calling the pop culture questions, and also too long for "have you lately."

[Cellista]

I got an 18.  I guess I'm in the bubble.

I don't have a fridge full of domestic beer because  I 1) can't drink alcohol and 2) don't like fizzy drinks.  Otherwise I would be going through half a box of wine every week. 

They note that Chipotle was removed from the list of restaurants even though it is in the top ten most popular. I wonder if it skewed the data.