Autumn 97 Ideas about class remain mired in prejudice and mythology. Worlds of Pain is a beautifully written book that details the author's intensive look at the values, attitudes, and behavior of fifty California white working class families. The author compared this group with a group of professional middle class families who were matched in every way except for educational level and occupation. In Rubin's fifty working class families, children are supposed to be, above all else, respectful of adults, orderly and clean-values that are of utility in working class occupations.
Schools are to be strict, teach basic skills and respect for authority.
Ehrenreich cites this focus on innovation in the professional class as conflicting with the need for raising children who can also tolerate the lengthy process of education needed to maintain membership in the class-creating ambiguity and guilt on the part of middle class parents about when to be strict and instill respect for authority and when to encourage children to learn how to make choices and their own decisions. Marriage in the working class families occurred earlier. The professional middle class is expected to find a suitable partner in that class in college. College and establishing careers lead to a delay of marriage and child-raising in the professional class. Both authors believe this to be a culturally insensitive interpretation of working class realities by the professional class and that the teaching of this particular interpretation is a major reason for professional disdain for the tastes and values of working class people.