Are working class people less intelligent?

Question

... is this just down to tough luck as to the circumstances they were born into? I honestly don't mean disprect to any working class people at ALL... but noone can deny the dire change in lifestyle and manners towards strangers as you venture into the different econominc groups of schools and living areas in London. Working class are full of tension and refer to their fists to sort out very minor problems, like wearing the wrong shoes or having the wrong colour skin. Or being disabled. How else can this be explained?

Thanks to those of you who understood my question properly and gave an intelligent, informed answer. Anyone who asked 'definition of working class' - pls stick to the American boards and you really need to see and experience what I am talking about to understand it.

Answer 1

I come from the working class and I went on to an ivy league university and became a diplomat. I was lucky because, as poor as my mother was, she knew things about nutrition and tried her best to make sure I was healthy. She also was smart enough to move to a better place so I could go to a good school and mostly rub shoulders with ambitious middle class kids. What I see in London is kids whose parents don't feed them well (and bad nutrition does affect intelligence), they go to bad schools and are caught up in a negative environment that resembles some sort of multicultural hell hole. This means they seem stupid because they are in an environment that makes them that way. The best thing that could be done for them is to isolate them from other working class people and get them out of London. I joined the army, they need to do the same.

Answer 2

This kind of behavior has nothing to do with being working class. I am working class, my dad was a dustbin man. I got 5 gce '0' levels, served a 5 year apprenticeship and have been an engineer for over 40 years. My IQ is over 140. I was brought up to respect my elders and other peoples property. The reason why todays younger people are not respectful is down to the way that thier parents and grandparents did not instil these values into thier lives at a young age. I have fathered 3 kids and all are well brought up, well mannered and respectful. Reading your question, and trying to read between the lines i guess that you are what would be called middle class and that you had parental discipline in your life, much the same as i had and my kids had. By that, I do not mean physical discipline but a structured and loving family life with lots of good examples shown by parents and grandparents. All it takes is for someone to care....and set good examples of what is acceptable behavior and what is not.

Answer 3

So which class are you from then, obviously not upper class with your spelling, how dare you insult working class people and spell like you have done, I am from a working class background, I have never once used my fists on anything or anyone, I really don't give a hoot what shoes people wear, whether working, lower, middle or upper class, neither do I care about the colour of their skin, everyone is my equal, no one is better than me and no one is beneath me, I have as much respect for a disabled person as I do for an able bodied person, I might be from a working class background but I was brought up with manners and to respect people, is it any wonder the world is so angst today with the attitude of people like you.

Answer 4

Surely some are, but don't judge everyone of the working class by the actions of a few. Some working class people are very intelligent and have just not have the opportunity to get a better education,and thus better jobs. Intelligence can never be measured by the lifestyle a person leads.

Answer 5

Not necessarily. Circumstances change people's lives forever. So,
1. People give up even though they know they can do better.
2. Others fight these circumstances and get somewhere.
3. Others might care less because they're individually satisfied.
4. For others, that's the best they can do.
I think less intelligent people are everywhere. You can be intelligent but it's what you do with your talents that counts.

Answer 6

Puhleeze! Intelligence is very evenly distributed throughout the population, stupidity is not confined to the lower orders. Look at Boris Johnson for example, a clown, idiot and buffoon if there ever was one. I am in a working class area in Kent and see none of the violence that occurs in London. That is London for you, it always has been a nasty place througout the centuries. Londoners are pigs. Violence, discrimination and bigotry is not confined to the uneducated is it?

Answer 7

Socioeconomic status is related to a number of factors that are complicated so it's difficult to tell what causes what.
Parents with low socioeconomic status are less likely to breastfeed, they're less likely to provide nutritional variety, they're less likely to read to their children, they talk to their children less, and they're more likely to use discipline techniques that contribute to antisocial behavior. It's thought that if such parents were educated about breastfeeding, nutrition, reading, and discipline, that the children will receive the benefits of the type of education that helps a person from the very beginning - infancy, toddlerhood, etc. All of these things have been shown to make people more intelligent (that is, have higher IQ's) and discipline obviously shapes our sense of right and wrong. One theory is that the stress of being low in socioeconomic status lessens the amount of positive parent/child interaction. So it's a cycle.

I think it has less to do with formal education because when you see behavioral problems, it's usually very early on. And when a child is identified as having behavioral problems early on, he/she's more likely to drop out to work a working class job. Obviously there are some who graduate and still go into working class jobs because they like or need them, and these people are certainly no less intelligent (on an IQ level). Going for a higher level education can be tough for someone with low socioeconomic status, and a college degree doesn't necessarily imply intelligence; it implies higher ambition and drive and opportunity.

So it may be that the "unintelligent" working class that you're speaking of (the ones that use their fists) may be the product of a household low in parental education. And, yes, the tension is probably caused by things that the working class specifically has to worry about - layoffs, lack of benefits, low pay. But not all working class jobs are like that. Stress can make people become alienated.

So I'd say that you're right to make the link, but it's not that say "Dumb people are violent." Or "Working class people are dumb and violent." It's more like "The upbringing of people affects their later decisions about education, violence, and work ethic."

I want to point out that I'm in college right now and my boyfriend works in a factory. He's never been violent in his life; he just likes it. He was raised in a loving environment and his mother has run a daycare for most of her life, so she's taken countless classes and her parenting style is a result of that.

I know it was long, but I just wanted people to really think about putting cause and effect in the right place.

Answer 8

No I don't think the working class are unintelligent. Maybe less educated because they couldn't attend the best schools and they grow up in a working environment.

But I guess that the working class have sort of grown into a type of people identify able by manners, how they dress, speak, etc.

Answer 9

No its more they are less educated. I don't think lack of education is the same as lack of intelligence. I have a limited education & you might think I was not too intelligent if you met me, but I have a 137 iq which is high average bordering on high, which I think is 140. I am not articulate but that doesnt mean unintelligent. The two are different things entirely.

Answer 10

No, in any socio-economic group there will be a spread of potential. Upbringing, education and privilege have a large part to play in whether that potential is developed. look how many dopey posh people there are.

People are people, it's opportunity, and more importantly, awareness and desire of opportunity that changes peoples lives. Culture can be self-perpetuating, for good or bad.