on class, social structure, and "bubbles"

An excellent interview in The Atlantic on thinking about class, social structure, and "bubbles" (a la Murray). It's ironic when educated, tolerant, self-styled liberals miss this.

Tara Westover (raised in ID; lives in NYC) in response to this question: "Do you think of where you grew up as parochial?"

"I used to think of Idaho as parochial, and I used to think of cities as sophisticated. And in many ways, I was right. You can get a better education in a city; you can learn more technical skills, and more about certain types of culture. But as I’ve grown older, I’ve come to believe that there are many ways a person can be parochial. Now I define parochial as only knowing people who are just like you—who have the same education that you have, the same political views, the same income. And by that definition, New York City is just about the most parochial place I’ve ever lived. I have become more parochial since I came here. It’s astonishingly difficult in this city to be truly close to someone who is not in your same socioeconomic group. For me, it’s the single most striking fact about living here. Meaningful interactions are difficult to engineer. The divide is deep. And it is largely between those who sit in the front of the Uber and those who sit in the back of it."