After noticing the differences in their habits, this couple released a series of TikToks that captures what it’s like to live with someone who comes from a different social class
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In the paper titled 'Is America coming apart?' the authors argue that income inequality and the gap between the rich and poor are at their "all-time high." Hence the increasing segregation between different socioeconomic classes.
In order to find out if class differences affect intimate relationships — as highlighted in Michaela's and Alex's case — Jessi Streib, Duke University's sociology professor and the author of 'The Power of the Past: Understanding Cross-Class Marriages', has dedicated his entire research to this. "So often we think about how class differences keep us apart," Streib explained to Bored Panda. "I wanted to know if and how they draw us together."
After studying and extensively interviewing 32 couples in which one partner comes from a well-to-do family and the other from a "blue-collar" one —as well as 10 couples in which both partners grew up in the same economic class— Jessi was able to discover that "strangers who grew up in the same social class had more in common with each other than they did with spouses with whom they shared their lives."
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Jessi thinks that the 'opposites attract' law, which not only applies to people's personalities but apparently their upbringing in different socioeconomic backgrounds too, partly comes from problem-solving. "People in each class face a distinct set of problems, and sometimes those who grow up in other classes have the solutions," she said.
"For example, people who grew up with white-collar parents often felt that their parents pushed them to have academic and extracurricular achievements." Which, as most of us are aware, means being away from your beloved family — something that folks from the lower-class get to experience less often due to lack of funds or opportunities.
As Jessi explains, this is all connected because "people from white-collar backgrounds are then often drawn to people from blue-collar backgrounds because they see them as able to help them have the close family relationships they always wanted."
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The biggest hurdle that mixed-class couples faced, according to Jessi's study, was the difference in planning and preparation. "The big difference that couples faced was whether to manage everything or to take it as it comes."
To our own surprise, partners from wealthy families would usually take the lead. "They grew up with financial security and parents in positions of authority. This allowed them to be able to predict the future and want to try to control their surroundings," Streib reasoned.
"People who grew up in blue-collar families often have less financial security and authority. So other people and events throw things at them, and they become very good at reacting. Seeing the future as unpredictable, they want to take things as they come."
Or, to borrow a golden phrase from John Lennon: "Life happens when you're busy making other plans." As long as you're making those plans together, despite the differences in habits and upbringing, that's what matters in the end.
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