Atomized
"Working-class speech, in my experience, is fragmentary by nature. By sticking with the description of individual events rather than unifying them into a larger narrative, you accept the contingency of things, as it might all change by tomorrow, & because what you’ve said is only likely to have significance in the specific context in which you said it. Middle-class speech, by contrast, smacks of grandeur, because it seeks to place feelings & events in a more universal context, with the inference that the speaker & his perceptions matter in the greater scheme of things."
"What does this mean for society, when the powerlessness of one class is internalised by its members, & individuals actively hinder their own progress? Nothing can be done if not done together. & if we refuse, or are unable, to work together, because the classes have ossified into groups that don’t trust each other & don’t meet, does that mean an end to progress?"
"What does this mean for society, when the powerlessness of one class is internalised by its members, & individuals actively hinder their own progress? Nothing can be done if not done together. & if we refuse, or are unable, to work together, because the classes have ossified into groups that don’t trust each other & don’t meet, does that mean an end to progress?"
