Jo’s Reviews > Respectable: The Experience of Class > Status Update
Jo
is on page 48 of 240
"A common tendency among th socially-mobile is2feel always tht they r living th life of Riley, but on borrowed time: tht at any moment some1 is going2tap them on th shoulder & tell them it's time2go back. I hav this feeling all th time, & th greatest fear tht accompanies it is not of losing th substnl privileges th come with being mc, but of knowg tht if I had2go back, I'd fit in even less now than I did back then."
— May 18, 2025 03:11PM
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Jo’s Previous Updates
Jo
is on page 222 of 240
"Th schools I went2arguably taught me more about injustice than I've experienced b4or since. In mny ways, they were experiments in soc justice which, for a lot of th ppl who went2them, succeeded only in reinforcing unfairness."
— Jul 20, 2025 01:44PM
Jo
is on page 184 of 240
"Th fact is tht 99% of ppl do hav2do a job in order2pay th bills, but by no means does it put 99% of ppl, never mind 99% of th jobs they do, in th same boat. Power accrues more fiercely th closer2th top u are&2 deny this fact is an act of what Bourdieu termed 'symbolic violence' towards third with less of it."
— Jul 20, 2025 11:11AM
Jo
is on page 174 of 240
On th tabloids & the working class: "if you live in a soc & linguistic environment where any broadsheet might as well be published in Greek - until u acquire th cultural & educational capital to tune into its, by turns, Olympian & self-consciously demonic wavelength - how will u now find print news reporting that is not based on the assumption that you are an imbecile?"
— Jun 11, 2025 12:56AM
Jo
is on page 172 of 240
Christina Patterson's Indy column on Shannon Matthews: sickening. Sick.
"That a 40-yr-old British man, in 2008, might have no teeth, suggests a sickness in the society rather than in the person: the sickness of being unable or unwilling to give dignity to all its members." This.
— Jun 11, 2025 12:51AM
"That a 40-yr-old British man, in 2008, might have no teeth, suggests a sickness in the society rather than in the person: the sickness of being unable or unwilling to give dignity to all its members." This.
Jo
is on page 159 of 240
"As Hoggart implied of the socially immobile 'carousel' existence which he knew & resented from his childhood, it's in th interests of institutionally powerful people to tell you that you're thick & that it's too late to do anything about it."
— Jun 05, 2025 07:00AM
Jo
is on page 158 of 240
"...to keep those you love close to you requires keeping them within the world you know. Th consequences of advancement may mean good news for the individual but bad news for the family & th neighbourhood...With every departure came a loss of th meaning & hope that comes from being with others. Th flourishing of individual potential was seen as harmful to th collective"
— Jun 05, 2025 06:56AM
Jo
is on page 151 of 240
Comp schls: "Rathr thn brng about a greater mix of soc groups & academc abilities thru a single-tier system, ingrained assumptions about th insubordinate & disengaged 'nature' of w/c children made comprehensive schools arguably even more class-ridden."
— Jun 05, 2025 06:33AM
Jo
is on page 115 of 240
"...that's what being-middle-class-in-the-world is about [being nice and 'reasonable']. Darkness is managed or hidden."
— May 20, 2025 10:12AM
Jo
is on page 102 of 240
"A school can collude in girls' social & economic entrapment through th courses it offers"
— May 20, 2025 06:27AM
Jo
is on page 101 of 240
"...how come a wc boy, even now, is permitted2gain fewer good GCSEs on th grounds tht 'he isn't academic' & b set up4a life of lower wages & less autonomy, when a mc boy, showing th same 'non-academic' inclinations, will b expected to pass them anyway & progress to university regardless?"
— May 20, 2025 06:24AM
