servants

[Doug Henwood]

[This bounced because it was posted from an address different from the
subscription address. I'd say about 1/2 the residents of my apartment
building on the upper west side of Manhattan have a "cleaning lady" come in
once a week (me *not* among them), and none of them are "rich" by Max's
narrow definition. These "servants" seem mostly to be recent immigrants
from Latin America and the Caribbean - one of the upsides of structural
adjustment for metropolitan populations, I guess.]

Reply-To: <daniel at wholarts.com>
From: "Daniel" <drdq at m5.sprynet.com>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Subject: servants
Date: Tue, 1 Dec 1998 21:22:36 -0800
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In-Reply-To: <199812012350.SAA08690 at dont.panix.com>

Max, you wrote: "and full-time servants are pretty much out of the
question."

Without really knowing, it seemed to me that the post about the income and
life-style of the top quintile was way off (I'm referring to the post you
responded to). So, I waited to hear someone quote the facts. Thanks.

But still, I'm just wondering about the servant thing, especially with
respect to places like Los Angeles. I got the impression when I lived there
that the well-to-do middle classes could easily afford au pair "girls" and
maids (who also cook). I rather thought I was seeing the shape of things to
come, and predicted to a friend that in twenty years, being middle-class all
over the country would be more like what it was for the Victorians. Of
course, I didn't mean it really. I have no predictions to make - but just as
a manner of speaking, to say something about the way things seem to be
changing.

What was the percentage of middle-class people in the Victorian period?
Maybe in the future, the middle-classes will live much more comfy, but their
numbers will shrink?

Daniel