A Little Culture

Culture groups within a city make a fascinating study, observing the dynamics of their behaviour, spending styles and attitudes. Attitudes are an interesting aspect. I see dozens of clients from a wide variety of classes and incomes and a lot can be observed during conversation. I wish I could say that I got on with everyone but truth be told I am rather opinionated and while I may not voice it to the person there are just some attitudes that irritate the heck out of me. I’m pretty sure I have a few that get under some people’s skin so it probably evens the scales there.

Think of a social grouping below yours. You know, the ones who live in a lower standard neighbourhood with the spending patterns you can’t comprehend. Now think of the conversations you’ve had with ‘those people’. Good. Did you understand them? Probably not, if anything you walked away either frustrated with their attitude or relieved that you ‘are not like them’. What just occurred was a clash of attitude. Next step. Imagine a grouping higher than yours. Now observe your thought towards them. What goes through your mind when you see someone driving a better car than you, spending more money than you and wearing better clothes? One of the easiest ways of making yourself look better is to pull someone else down-so some justify their relative position with comments like ‘well they must have done a dirty deal to get there’ or ‘I would hate to be in their position, imagine the insurance they must have to pay.’ The problem with these thought patterns is that they get in the way of someone moving up into a higher social circle. They prevent a person from visualising themselves living better and consequently they talk themselves out of it. They may wish for better circumstances but they don’t really want them. Others, however, look at the other person’s circumstances and imagine what it would be like to enjoy the benefits of a better lifestyle and with a positive attitude move in that direction.