The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own • Hacker News Board

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#11

Post by pwdisswordfishy » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 1:51 AM UTC

gregoryyy wrote: post #6

It's endlessly interesting to me that despite the fact that the modern educated middle class are overwhelmingly left wing and dominate the "cultural sphere" (because they can afford to), there's still a reluctance to really talk about class and their own position in the class system in favour of lip service supporting minorities and marketable individual identities. Originally the struggles of the labour class and ga…

> reluctance to really talk about class and their own position in the class system in favour of lip service

That's by design, obvs.

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#12

Post by browningstreet » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 2:50 AM UTC

gregoryyy wrote: post #6

It's endlessly interesting to me that despite the fact that the modern educated middle class are overwhelmingly left wing and dominate the "cultural sphere" (because they can afford to), there's still a reluctance to really talk about class and their own position in the class system in favour of lip service supporting minorities and marketable individual identities. Originally the struggles of the labour class and ga…

Writing can be the output of the labor class.

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#13

Post by decafninja » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 6:27 AM UTC

justonceokay wrote: post #9

siva7 wrote: post #2

The loneliness of a home office - and everything in the article would be equally true

I thought my coworkers were insane during covid, living in their home offices and moving to the outer suburbs. My bosses office was literally his bedroom closet, and he would go entire days without seeing light.^ Maybe taking prescribed speed every day helped with the loneliness. When covid hit I moved into a house with 5 other people and got a job working at a factory. I realized the only person who would get me the…

Everyone is different. Living with five strangers or even anyone who is more distant than a super-close near-lifelong friend (my assumption - apologies beforehand if I’m wrong) sounds like a nightmare to me.

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#14

Post by seanhunter » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 6:48 AM UTC

gregoryyy wrote: post #6

It's endlessly interesting to me that despite the fact that the modern educated middle class are overwhelmingly left wing and dominate the "cultural sphere" (because they can afford to), there's still a reluctance to really talk about class and their own position in the class system in favour of lip service supporting minorities and marketable individual identities. Originally the struggles of the labour class and ga…

That might be true in your experience, but in the UK, issues of class were a huge part of cultural life throughout the 80s and 90s, with people like Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears, Ken Loach etc.

If you've never seen any of this, I would recommend "Kes" as a great place to start, also "Abigail's Party" as a satire of noveau-riche middle class aspiration, and "High Hopes" as a very moving examination of class aspiration and clashes of beliefs about social mobility in Thatcher's Britain.

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#15

Post by watwut » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:14 AM UTC

gregoryyy wrote: post #6

It's endlessly interesting to me that despite the fact that the modern educated middle class are overwhelmingly left wing and dominate the "cultural sphere" (because they can afford to), there's still a reluctance to really talk about class and their own position in the class system in favour of lip service supporting minorities and marketable individual identities. Originally the struggles of the labour class and ga…

Left is talking about those and pushing for those. It just does not matter what left does, only thing that does matter in many peoples minds (like yours) is what right wing says bout left.

> It's probably also the primary reason for the rise of reactionary right wing parties.

Can we stop whitewashing their motivations constantly and blaming them constantly on the left? No it is not reason for that. Plus, your definition of labor must be quite ... selective aesthetic based to arrive to "it is about labor" conclusion.

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#16

Post by pjc50 » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:38 AM UTC

seanhunter wrote: post #14

gregoryyy wrote: post #6

It's endlessly interesting to me that despite the fact that the modern educated middle class are overwhelmingly left wing and dominate the "cultural sphere" (because they can afford to), there's still a reluctance to really talk about class and their own position in the class system in favour of lip service supporting minorities and marketable individual identities. Originally the struggles of the labour class and ga…

That might be true in your experience, but in the UK, issues of class were a huge part of cultural life throughout the 80s and 90s, with people like Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears, Ken Loach etc. If you've never seen any of this, I would recommend "Kes" as a great place to start, also "Abigail's Party" as a satire of noveau-riche middle class aspiration, and "High Hopes" as a very moving examination of class aspiration a…

> issues of class were a huge part of cultural life throughout the 80s and 90s

Yes, and this is much less the case now. Changes to the economics of culture have closed a lot of doors. As well as the massive expansion of university, which magically conveys "middle class" status on people even if they are still heavily indebted wage slaves.

Lurking under a lot of this stuff are two nasty questions:

- whether the word "white" is attached to "working class", even invisibly

- whether people who are retired count as "working class", even if they are property owners with private pensions

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#17

Post by piltdownman » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 2:29 PM UTC

pjc50 wrote: post #16

seanhunter wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That might be true in your experience, but in the UK, issues of class were a huge part of cultural life throughout the 80s and 90s, with people like Mike Leigh, Stephen Frears, Ken Loach etc. If you've never seen any of this, I would recommend "Kes" as a great place to start, also "Abigail's Party" as a satire of noveau-riche middle class aspiration, and "High Hopes" as a very moving examination of class aspiration a…

> issues of class were a huge part of cultural life throughout the 80s and 90s Yes, and this is much less the case now. Changes to the economics of culture have closed a lot of doors. As well as the massive expansion of university, which magically conveys "middle class" status on people even if they are still heavily indebted wage slaves. Lurking under a lot of this stuff are two nasty questions: - whether the word "…

Classism may have diminished, but the subjugation of the working classes via abhorrences like "the gig economy" are almost Victorian in their draconian bureaucracy and dehumanisation. These are most ably depicted in Ken Loach's scathing critique Sorry We Missed You (2019), or Roddy Doyle's Rosie (2018).

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#18

Post by justonceokay » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 3:59 PM UTC

decafninja wrote: post #13

justonceokay wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought my coworkers were insane during covid, living in their home offices and moving to the outer suburbs. My bosses office was literally his bedroom closet, and he would go entire days without seeing light.^ Maybe taking prescribed speed every day helped with the loneliness. When covid hit I moved into a house with 5 other people and got a job working at a factory. I realized the only person who would get me the…

Everyone is different. Living with five strangers or even anyone who is more distant than a super-close near-lifelong friend (my assumption - apologies beforehand if I’m wrong) sounds like a nightmare to me.

Completely understood. Im an electrician now, Covid made me realize how much more social I was than my coworkers

Re: The loneliness of A Room of One’s Own

#19

Post by ElevenLathe » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 5:56 PM UTC

gregoryyy wrote: post #6

It's endlessly interesting to me that despite the fact that the modern educated middle class are overwhelmingly left wing and dominate the "cultural sphere" (because they can afford to), there's still a reluctance to really talk about class and their own position in the class system in favour of lip service supporting minorities and marketable individual identities. Originally the struggles of the labour class and ga…

It's hard to say someone is "left wing" unless their main political lens is class. That's really the absolute minimum requirement to be considered "left wing" IMO.

That relative who dutifully donates to the SPLC, asks you your pronouns at Thanksgiving, and has an AOC 2028 bumper sticker? They're a Liberal. They have bourgeois, Liberal values. They can be valuable allies in a left coalition, but they are fundamentally not interested in class struggle, or possibly even find it abhorrent, and can be equally at home in a right coalition with race chauvinists and concentration camp boosters.