I recently watched I, Tonya on Netflix and apart from the great performances was moved by its’ underlying message. I found the I, Tonya story as much a tragedy as a farce.

In the end, I think, Tonya Harding’s demise can be mainly characterized as being a victim of her own class i.e. American Working Class.

The working class, in any society but predominantly in the West, can be its own worse enemy. Those who are aspirational, have many hurdles to get over that much middle class or privileged people do not have to regularly encounter, let alone endure. For sure, we all hurt, have disappointments, setbacks, apparently, domestic violence knows no class, race or barriers. I once knew a middle-class law graduate who said her family ‘knew poverty’ as she apparently went without eating for a whole day because her father had lost his job and had to transition to another and their pantry stocks got low.

I would argue that a temporary lack of resources in the family home is not poverty. Poverty is an insidious life trap, that works as much on destroying a person’s self-esteem and destroying your career aspirations as it does keeping you in an inter-generational poverty cycle. Most of the social disadvantages are either imposed, self-inflicted and self-generating (even Karl Marx had no respect for LS communities but I hasten to add capitalism is not the wholesale oppressor Marxists often make it out to be).

In general, the lower spectrum of society, have it tougher than other spectrums of society. I found, the frequency of physical or emotional violence is far more common- life and dream destroying and imprisoning i.e. poverty trap than any other spectrum of society.

The following is based on my observations and experiences. When making such claims, one can not help to generalize- there are exceptions to any social rule- but I’ll defer to one of my favorite authors on the subject Gerry Spence. When he generalizes, he uses the example of a bunch of grapes. When talking about this fruit he says they are green, firm, juicy and delicious. But we all know there are exceptions e.g. purple grapes, some saggy discolored ones near the bottom and some even taste too sweet or bland. But for the purposes of argument, we all have an image of grapes when we talk on the subject and the occasional exceptions do not displace the rule. Another, more legalistic term, would classify such opinions as based on a priori knowledge or knowledge that is generally understood or experienced.

All Round Low Expectations

Some police are ready to pounce on people they know are either ignorant or cash poor. In Victoria, Legal Aid will only help if you plead Guilty to the offenses you’ve been charged with.A criminology study in the USA, famously cited by a famous lawyer is that 9 times out of 10 an arrested person is actually guilty of the offense they’ve been charged with. There are many factors why this may be so. Harassing, taking names, performing slow ‘drive bys’ and ‘eyeing'(intimidation and staring) occurred much more frequently in LS communities. Prejudiced police are basically saying ” We know you’re criminals and up to no good- we are going to pounce on you the moment you give us the excuse.’ Government officers are consolidating a belief system that your situation is hopeless and expectations are you are going to be a criminal- most people fall for this soul-destroying treatment and surrender themselves to this self-actualizing belief.

We are all strong and determined to some extent but every one us has fallen- submitted- relented to peer pressure- threw their hands up from a knocked or low self-esteem position of momentary weakness of self -defeat ‘gave in and lived out these lower expectations.’ Especially to young minds- low expectations can be self-actualizing. A lack of positive role models, higher expectations, and family support can accumulate to be a life of misery. (I know from personal experience how powerful a positive comment can be – I did very well in a senior law subject when a person I admired said I should aim to be the Dux of the Class – I was simply invigorated from start to finish).

Drugs and Alcohol abuse are far more prevalent in LS communities with greater consequences. Drug documentaries make it clear in the USA that the War on Drugs’ gives law enforcement agencies a ready excuse to raid houses at 4am in the morning in predominantly LS communities. Kids screaming and seeing their parents handcuffed face-down to the floor is not an expereince any kid should see growing up.

The quality of schools in LS communities often doesn’t produce doctors, engineers, lawyers or scientists etc. Out of the 7 or so teachers, I was a student under, I would only say 1 or 2 were ‘caring’ and wanted to instill a love of learning – the others were generally nice but quite perfunctory in their methods and rarely engaged in one-on-one teaching.

The LS communities usually have factories, technical business i.e. mechanics, or small retail businesses etc.

General LS beliefs: Lower aspirations. When I was growing up, if you told kids you wanted to be in a professional career when you grew up was a good way to get singled out, bullied or ridiculed. Conforming to the group’s ‘Don’t think you’re better than anyone’ narrative resulting in lower aspirations or local community jobs. HS schools (public or private) tend to have a culture of achievement and expectation this, in turn, generates a positive learning and aspirational culture.

• Crabs in the Bucket- Self Policing and Imprisoning Class Beliefs. I say this is a class belief because it is a view held by people who take jealousy and envy a step too far and sabotage the aspirations of a member of their own group/class.

Family Dysfunction: In my experience, step-families are nothing like the Brady Bunch television series of all-smiles, integrated happy well-adjusted families. In the real world, there are filial alliances, loyalties, rivalries, sabotage, favoritism, white-anting and even instigated violence against predominantly step-children.

There is a common global statistic often cited by Criminologists and Evolutionary Psychologists to indicate we don’t really care for children that aren’t our own and sadly accidents and even deaths are far more prevalent under the supervising ‘care’ of a step-parent than a biological parent (I hasten to add not all step parents are bad- I for one get on much better with my step-father than my so-called real father- but, initially, there was a teething process so to speak); and the rest is history.

Take Care & Cheers

Jason