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The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

danco.substack.com

11–20 of 172 posts

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#11
It's neat although I'm not sure how 'right' it is.

This is also possibly just a re-articulation of age-old delineations between working/middle and upper class sentiments.

I think the working/middle class are the same ladder though and most of them share the same values in that they are no psychopath barbarians.

The right-hand ladder is actually 2 parts:

The ibankers belong squarely in the middle class rung. They are just workers like everyone else, and frankly, as preformative. Most of them are regular people and not sociopaths.

The difference with some 'banking' roles - is that they are playing in games of 'dealing and leverage' - not so much value creation.

So they're naturally going to acclimate to a different way of viewing thew world. They play zero-sum games whereas everyone else is doing work, or trying/pretending to.

They have access to the 'old money' class and they see the potentiality.

But really - the lower rungs of banking are just upper-class elite.

The 'old money' are not necessarily sociopaths - they are often quite nice people, they vary from down-to-earth to detached to egoist. Maybe not nice enough to give up their money but not necessarily bad people. And living off of a stipend of limited wealth can give a sense of the limitations of money and these people are not wagging their money in your face.

There is a hugely fundamental difference between 'barbarian' like Donald Trump, or Putin, and kids from the Bertelsmann family because those who are 'out of the game' and living off old money are super effete, it's not like they are going to be that important or influential. They are useless and they know it.

I also dispute the morale differentials etc. I think there's some truthiness there, but it's a function of aspiration: the 'working class' have more likely than not accepted their lot while the 'middle class' are competing for surpluses.

Finally, I'm not so cynical. Those 'middle class' people do important things. It's not easy to be a dentist, doctor, write software, manage people etc..

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#12
I think it boils down to having enough free time and money to care about dumb things. Your basic needs are covered, so you have spare energy for various causes and weird hobbies.

I suspect that baby talk is just how you answer to someone you can't relate to. I answer just the same when someone tells me about sports, or their racing horses. It's just what you default to when there's a cultural disconnect, but the desire to show respect.

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#13
post #6

See also "The Peter Principle," which famously argued that everyone eventually rises to their level of incompetence. The more interesting question is what do you do in response to that? The Peter Principle books actually argued you should turn down that last promotion. But how do we avoid becoming Michael Scott?

Can you recommend some good "The Peter Principle" books? I'm unfamiliar, would love to learn.

“The Peter Principle” by Laurence J. Peter

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#14
Every person not in the bottom rung is a "sociopath"? Honestly I get a little tinge of joy out of the bitterness of these whiners sometimes.

If you think every person in life that has gotten a different outcome than you is a "sociopath" your are probably something a lot closer to a sociopath than average (ie a seeming total lack of ability to empathize with a vast swath of people based on superficial differences)

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#15
post #8

Meh.... This has a real "I'm 14 and this is deep" vibe. Like a teenager who thinks their dad is a loser, and that the real men are the guys at the bottom in tough blue collar jobs, or at the top in power suits being Wolves of Wall Street. Insights like this can be fun, but they're for the third beer with your buddies, not for writing down.

Very correct Michael Scott.

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#16
post #8

Meh.... This has a real "I'm 14 and this is deep" vibe. Like a teenager who thinks their dad is a loser, and that the real men are the guys at the bottom in tough blue collar jobs, or at the top in power suits being Wolves of Wall Street. Insights like this can be fun, but they're for the third beer with your buddies, not for writing down.

It's very odd that 'baby talk' is professional. I don't think society was always this way. I also respect anyone who questions why this is the case. Assuming it's an efficiency, we should be able to justify this behavior.

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#17

See also "The Peter Principle," which famously argued that everyone eventually rises to their level of incompetence. The more interesting question is what do you do in response to that? The Peter Principle books actually argued you should turn down that last promotion. But how do we avoid becoming Michael Scott?

Keep doing actual coding at least some of the time. Unless you care about income, in which case try to ascend the ziggurat.

Re: The Michael Scott Theory of Social Class

#19

This is a really well-written article. I am not sure if this spin on the cited references is novel but it is the first I am seeing any of it. I am jarred how well it describes the "middle" of society, including how many of my own behaviors/beliefs are captured. One thing I am having trouble with is the connection between Michael and the "educated" ladder, even though a big portion of the article is dedicated to that.…

Its interesting seeing this formal non American pov and how the American Office is very denatured compared to the UK one.

So "the good place" is prestige TV! would not that be more like discussing the latest "in our time" about the plague of Justinian over the water cooler ?

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