From: "Scott Martens" <sm at kiera.com>
(re: my opinion that a lot of 'new class', 'knowledge class', etc. comments are basically standard middle class beliefs)
>Okay, that's a good point. How does the "knowledge
>classes" interests differ from the middle class?
I'll have to >think about that. Thanks.
>Scott Martens
Thank you, Scott.
When I make the mental comparison of a modern, young (white, male) techie to his counterpart back in 1950, I do see one significant factor. The 1950 techie probably had the goal and expectation of having a career at one company, preferably a large, Fortune 500 company. Any modern techie who assumes this is building his/her career on swampland.
I would be very surprised if the identification of techies with their employers has not dropped a lot in the last generation (probably more than in the general population).
This lack an expectation of stability is a 'new thing'. I don't think that it is a defining difference between the knowledge class and the middle class, however, because the rest of the middle class has also suffered this loss of security and stability.
What's left might be a belief among the 'knowledge class' that they prosper from this turbulence. Frankly, I think that most of it is (1) business magazine hype, (2) the tech bubble, which hyperinflated the careers of young techies, and (3) the fact that young techies are still in the 'bright and shiny' phase of their careers. They haven't experienced age discrimination, or the burnout of 20-something programmer workweeks sustained over an entire life [see my previous posts for a link about age discrimination in the tech world].
Barry
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