Charles Murray: Are You a Snob? Take the Test. | Big Think
Charles Murray: Are You a Snob? Take the Test.
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Charles Mrray designed this quiz to have a salutary effect on bringing to peopleās attention the degree to which they live in a bubble that seals them off from an awful lot of their fellow American citizens.
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CHARLES MURRAY:
Charles Murray is a libertarian political scientist, author, columnist, and pundit currently working as a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is best known for his controversial book The Bell Curve, co-authored with Richard Herrnstein in 1994, which argues that intelligence plays a central role in American society. He first became well known for his book Losing Ground: American Social Policy 1950ā1980 in 1984, which discussed the American welfare system. Murray has also written In Pursuit: Of Happiness and Good Government (1988), What It Means to be a Libertarian: A Personal Interpretation (1996), Human Accomplishment: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Arts and Sciences, 800 B.C. to 1950 (2003), and In Our Hands: A Plan to Replace the Welfare State (2006). He published Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality in 2008.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Charles Murray: The elite as I see it are the people that run the country. The broad elite consists of the people who are prominent in Kansas City or Indianapolis or individual cities. Theyāre the CEOs of the most important industries. Theyāre the mayor, the people who own the TV stations, et cetera. The narrow elite are those people who have effects on the nationās culture and economics and politics. Thatās a very small group. Youāre probably talking about fewer than 100,000 people all together who have that kind of power. And thatās what I see as the class ā the broad elite and the narrow elite who have drawn away from the rest of the country and formed enclaves and cultures of their own.
They eat different foods. They drink different alcoholic beverages. The upper class, for example, has a disdain of extraordinary force about domestic mass market beer. You will never see Budweiser in the refrigerator of a member of the new upper class. They raise their children differently. They go to different churches. They have different religious attitudes in general, if they go to church at all. In almost every way they have folk ways that separate them from mainstream America.
Take television for example. The average television set in the United States of America is on 35 hours a week. Thatās probably too much, but the fact is, the people that are watching that television get an exposure to a popular culture in very large doses. What does the new upper class watch on television? Downton Abbey, Madmen ā the more adventurous probably watch Breaking Bad ā but aside from that, they donāt really watch TV. And, in fact, a lot of them will say to you, āGee, we donāt even really have a TV anymore.ā Okay, thatās fine. Iām not saying thereās something virtuous about watching TV 35 hours a week. I am saying that when you have that kind of divergence in that single behavior you have part of the reason that you have an ignorance of, and oftentimes a disdain of, mainstream America by the new upper class, which is very problematic in terms of the future of the country.
One of the things in the book that really worked was my Bubble Quiz. You know, I faced the problem of ā because my audience really is upper middle class and upper class people, especially young people ā and I wanted to convince them of the degree to which they are isolated in many cases. And since a lot of times you canāt bring too much quantitative data to bear on that, I said, āWell, Iāll let them prove it to themselves.ā So I have a 25 item quiz in it, and a high score means you are not in an upper middle class bubble. And a low score means you are.
So some questions are ā the importance is very obvious ā have you ever lived in a neighborhood in which more than half of your neighbors did not have college degrees? For example. Some of them are a little mischievous ā have you ever stocked your refrigerator with mass market American beer? Since the signature of – one…
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February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
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@davidjgill4902
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
What Murray describes is no different than the cultural divergences between the elites and the general population in America in previous historical eras. In fact, the divergence is much smaller than it was in 1900 or 1930. Elites in those eras had live-in servants and existed in an entirely separate social world. In those eras, class differences were sharply defined and rarely violated. What is profoundly different today is that self-identified cultural conservatives exist in a separate world of news, information, and cultural pursuits, such as they are. They are served by media interests that promote facts and issues that resonate with this group alone. And they promote false views about the beliefs and intentions of Americans who do not identify with this group. Charles Murray serves the conservative media machine. He is, in a roundabout way, offering up another false hit on non-conservative Americans. It's a false construct on the supposed liberal elites. It's bullshit.
@daintydalmatian
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
This is just bsššš the elite are not some superhumans
@kalebvelox
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
"Have you ever walked in a factory floor? Not have you ever worked in a factory floor. Have you ever seen a factory floor?"
… … huh. Yes? It was definitely a learning experience. Lots of high school office politics going on.
@MG-fr3tn
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Intellegant and wise progress themselves.
@MG-fr3tn
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Our brains are stupid snobs to our bodys.
Entropy amegulas status science its going to destroy the thing holding the brain off the ground.
Thats why we wont find intellegant life else where.
Intellegants is not wisdom humility or as in science accountability.
@dannysullivan3951
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Libertarian economist says it all. Libertarian theory is as realistic as utopian socialism, ipso facto a bad economist.
@bobharford5643
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Do not ~all USA male youth experience manual labor jobs ā that is oneās that can cause physical discomfort? Charles overstated this question / test I think
@Jsmith2024
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Interesting. I just took the test and it was spot on. Good test!
@lahaza6515
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
The one thing I can say that I do is try not to eat bullshit, processed food.
If it makes me elitist? So be it.
Other than that I'm conservative and still like good writing in my shows "Mad Men" does not make me elitist.
Sorry, Yellowstone is hokey, sentimental & poorly written.
It has always been the thing I wish we'd do; write better scripts & stop being anti intellectual.
Other than that, wave that flag & gimme an American beer without corn syrup in it.
I'd drink one with it, but I want three and I'm not drinking that much Kayro (which I are up on.)
@scwiggie
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Old upper middle. European beers, good scotch and bourbon, 5th gen university, 8 to 10 hours max PBS or videos, most radio, no factory job but ranger out west.
@adolphsanchez1429
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Snob? No, but I know what my individual worth is based on my education, and I know that worth is respected in most other much wealthier and educated states. I know that being around unprofessional individuals (usually undereducated) who go on insane rants about BS conspiracy theories is mentally and emotionally exhausting. I know that the two traits 100 percent proven to attract business to a state is an educated populace and well-developed infrastructure (that is NOT snobbery but simply fact). I also know that most business leaders, when polled, state that they stay away from states with low taxes because it shows the state does not invest in the local economy, education, or infrastructure all of which they require to grow. I am not a snob, but I know that I am only compatible with highly educated liberals because I VALUE intellectual curiosity and self-improvement through education, reading, and culture. I would rather work as a lower paid information worker than a higher paid fossil fuel or factory worker in my state. It's possible to be highly intelligent and culturally literate without a college degree, but you rarely see this in the U.S. as it requires the types of critical thinking skills that comes with doing two or three research papers every one or two weeks for four years while reading half a dozen books/texts/articles, etc. For most Americans, it is just easier to turn on Fox "News" and allow Tucker Carlson (trust fund millionaire and heir to the Swanson fortune he does not want to have to pay taxes on) to TELL them what an issue is even if it doesn't affect them (or isn't even an issue at all).
@mirandaladlad9429
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
There are no colleges where i live. I live in a rural area.
@Nico-qm4zt
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I worked in a factory, got educated and went to an office, figured out what the people in the office felt about those who worked in factories, and I went back to the factory.
I received little respect despite my credentials in all aspects of the product we were marketing and selling. And it really opened my eyes to how much disdain those at the top really have for the working class.
@johnprocter7545
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I didn't realise America had upper class people. Can they spell and pronounce maths, colour and Aluminum properly then?
@faradaycage370
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Seriously, the "Bell Curve" guy?
@dirtmcgirt1038
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I can't believe this guy is still taken seriously in anything other than white supremacist circles. what a shame, big think.
@thewb8329
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Caviar (aka raw fish eggs)and opera is nothing to aspire to in order to and convince yourself that you actually like in order to think your somehow better than everyone else. What a miserable facade to maintain.
@dulynoted2427
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
If the most it does is move the upper class to vote for one party or another, it won't matter. Because both parties in the United States are considered a duopoly, poisoned by dark money and ruled by oligarchs.
@currypablo
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I find rich Americans to be arrogant, dismissive and racist.
Working class Americans for the most part are decent folks, tend to believe stupid right wing conspiracy theories, poorly educated and far more gullible to proto fascism.
@royrowland5763
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I took the quiz. Apparently, I'm not a fan of most of you backwater cretins.
@pietrolux
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I hate IPA and hand-crafted beer made with seafood and some rare but disgusting hops. I also hate corn and sugar in my "special" Belgian beers, and I despise light beers, as well as those beers that give you flatulence from hell and get you drunk after the first sip.
I want my Reinheitsgebot beer but I am not German! Am I a snob?
@ryohn5468
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
The wealthy are not better than everyone. Their shit stinks too. I don't look up to elites for being role models. They're not. Not one wealthy person is a role model. I look to people who are unknown and struggle in life because it's they who know reality and see reality. Wealthy people don't suffer. Never have. When they go to prison they're treated above everyone and get special rights and special treatment. Zsa Zsa GƔbor was treated differently when she went to jail.
@andmicbro1
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I've been around very wealthy people, and it really is a whole other world they live in. They don't interact with the world the same way the rest of us have to. It's an entirely foreign concept to them.
@paulstefanowicz3669
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Thank you.
@fluidpower43
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Middle Class here. I watch approximately 10 hours of TV a week. I drink only local breweries because they are American owned and make beer how it was supposed to be made.
@TonboIV
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Unfortunately, a lot of his ideas are stuck in his own generation. This isn't a divide between elites and working class people. It's the same generational divide that always exists. Disliking Budweiser and not watching TV are hardly unusual attitudes in younger people these days (or even people in their 30s). Preferences shift, and right now, there's a generational shift away from TV and toward more interactive media and away from mass market, big name brands toward those perceived as more independent. There's a certain urban-rural element to it as well, but then again, the population is shifting more urban in general.
A generational shift in product preferences is hardly elitism. Likewise, with a larger and larger portion of the working age population moving to cities, and manufacturing jobs shifting out of the United States, it should surprise no-one that a large number of young working class people have never seen the inside of a factory, or even the outside of one!
@5DNRG
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
TV/Social Media = programming
@HelloooThere
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Iām snobby about how my farts never stink.
@afgor1088
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
a man who doesn't understand 1st year statistics but has made a career out of pretending he does
@salabhsg
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
In the past we had Pharohs and Emperors. Now we have these elites. This is not something new, i think.
@YoungMommy14
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Why in The World is Charles Murray featured on this? Was Jethro from The Flat Earth Society on vacation?
The guy is quite literally a 'fraud', 'hack' and Professional 'Propogandist'.
If you construe that as 'harsh', then you truly don't know enough about this guy.
For 40 some odd years, this Charlatan (who has ZERO Science Credentials… Political Science is NOT an Authentic Science) masqueraded around as a 'Scientist' to convince nimrods that there was something remotely substantive about his 'work'.
This guy's 40+ year career as a Fraudulent 'IQ researcher' was a complete sham. His only impetus was making money and spreading erroneous disinformation about a topic that he knows absolutely nothing about (Human Cognition).
Can anyone name ONE contribution that Charles Murray has made to the entire ouvre of 'Cognitive Research'?
Let's broaden the parameters.
Name one contribution that Charles Murray made to any facet of Neuroscience that has been substantiated via The Scientific Method and peer reviewed.
Name ONE.
I mean the guy ostensibly has been studying 'Human Cognition' for about 50 years, right?
Surely, he's made SOME discoveries.
The truth is that he made ZERO contributions to the pantheon of 'Cognitive Research'. Nothing.
The truth is that Charles Murray LITERALLY knows no more about Cognition and IQ than he knew 50 years ago, when started this ludicrous charade.
He's also got a very unsettling and disturbing obsession with 'race'.
He has his sycophants. But, none of them can ever tell me ONE single, solitary contribution he's made. And, NO… ascribing IQ scores to entire races of people based solely on erroneous, Observational data that he ripped of other researchers without paying them a cent doesn't count.
So… Forgive me for being a little confused as to why someone thought that this guy actually had something of value to share.
That's all from me.
@stang1027
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Class is about material conditions and power, not culture.
@ericsierra-franco7802
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Kind of ironic since Murray is an elitist himself.
@GeorgWilde
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Being ignorant of TV, sports, popular culture, taste of junk food and cheap alcohol is a VIRTUE! Avoid low class people like a plague. I'm living in a pannellack full of "regular people" right now and it is terrible. It reminds me that good things and places being expensive is a great thing – it helps to keep those bastards out. If you realize how different the lifestyle is, it really motivates you to pursue wealth.
@redcrossknight4617
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Mr. Murray, I've read some of your work and I agree with about 85% of what you say–particularly in "Coming Apart" and "Facing Reality" I consider myself a mixed breed, when it comes to class. For the first half of my working life I had a blue collar, union job. In the second half of my working life, I taught English in high school and university. Given these two alternatives, I relate more to the blue collar, working class people, some whom are still friends, than the people I've met–excepting students–in academia. I like to watch all sorts of shows on TV, except reality shows. I drink Yuengling because I live in PA, but I don't mind Budweiser. I have healthy suspicion–I think–of the motives of most college educators and administrators. I had a bird's eye view, having spent 17 years in two colleges.
@nik8m745
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Yes I am snob who don't watch TV and drink mainstream beer, I drink quality wine. And to answer second question, yes I walked on factory floor and worked in a factories, freezers and warehouses before I finished college and became well paid part of the middle class. Cheerio old champ!
@tescheurich
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
This thinking has two really serious flaws. 1) Elites and snobs are absolutely not synonyms. Most elites are snobs (though, and this is important, fully half hide it well, and have their aides brief them on football and working class pop culture before every rally and gathering). But the rate of snobs who are also elite is *tiny*, only a little larger than the rate of elites among mass culture non-snobs. I know many snobs because that's the nature of our bubbled existence, and none is in charge of anything. A few are delusional aspirers, but most never want to be elites. Plenty are middle class, or actually poor (temporarily embarrassed millionaires, cut off by family or snobs from the heart who came from mass culture working or lower-middle class parents).
And there are many, many distinctions within this non-mass culture community. New upper-middle class is one of three very crude categories: WASPy old money, 'Trump steaks and gilded fixtures' new money, and hipsters (the closest match to Murray's "new upper middle"). As many elites are of the first two types as the third.
2) Snob is a poor unifying concept for what Murray is trying to describe. For me and a very measurable minority of the people I know who resemble me, my experience of mass culture is "oops, this wasn't made with me in mind, and that kind of hurts because it separates me from most of the people I come from". Not "heh, those rubes and their Budweiser and boob-tube culture". It comes from a cultural and class- modulated but internal nature telling me I needed to find my own way and my own things. I don't look down on mass culture, I just have no instinct for it. I don't get it. I'd be better off if I did. Maybe for most people, it is a performative, put-them-under-me maneuver. But I don't think it's an overwhelming majority.
@cornelmasson4610
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Question 42: "Are you a featured speaker on Big Think?" – minus 100 points.
@cornelmasson4610
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I have a desk job behind a computer and my body aches at the end of each day. This is nothing new.
@PLZFILMZ
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I want an audiobook narrated by this guy
@craven5328
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
I know this is an old video…but like, hasn't much of this always been the case? Different tastes are cultivated differently by different people.
@Jill-mu2jp
February 23, 2026 at 3:45 pm
Iām gonna get a lot of hate for this but could American conduct a social experiment with the last question. I understand that UPS does or maybe did at one time have all employees, even their CEO wear the browns and work in a truck all day. Loved that concept.
Maybe it could be mandatory that everyone no matter your social status do something similar even just for a day. Not sure what that would be but it would be a good starter point in my dream land Iām dreaming up.
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