2024-09-23
37 分钟How often do you know your friends’ exact salaries? For most of us, the answer is almost never. Yet, in our everyday lives and interactions, we notice the many small cues that make our class differences obvious. So why does talking about money create such an uncomfortable, cringey feeling? How can we cohabitate knowing that in class, we are unequal? And does being rich make you a bad person? Host of the podcast Classy, Jonathan Menjivar, and Chris Duffy break down the answers in this episode.
Ted audio collective.
You'Re listening to how to be a better human.
I'm your host, Chris Duffy.
I'm gonna be honest with you.
I am nervous about this episode.
I'm nervous because we're talking about a topic that feels very intimate and personal, but it's also a topic that I don't feel like I have very much practice talking about or even hearing other people talk about publicly.
And that's class and money.
I once read a study where respondents said that they would rather have people see nude photos of them online than their bank account information.
And I'm not sure that I agree with them.
I'm not sure which one I'd prefer to have leaked.
But I have to say I do understand that it's a tough call because how much money we make and have and what we spend, ooh, that is a lot to think about putting out there publicly for everyone to see.
The fact that this topic and these conversations are a little awkward and messy and uncomfortable, that's exactly why I am so glad that we have Jonathan Menhivar on the show with us today.
Jonathan is a public radio producer and he's the host of the podcast classy, which unpacks these issues really thoughtfully and compellingly.
Here's a clip from Jonathan's show.
So many of us have this class anxiety that we're letting munch on our insides like a little parasite.
And it's not just former working class kids like me.
Discomfort goes in all kinds of different directions.
So many of us, rich, poor, working class, middle class, we're looking at the people around us and either wanting more or feeling bad about what we already have.
And that icky feeling, it gets us in trouble.
It puts us in awkward spots, makes us do things we normally wouldn't do.