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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 18, 2026

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In my view, 1/20 is more than enough to form the basis for class resentment.

To trigger class resentment, the elderly would need to be a privileged class. There are two institutions that allow this in the modern west: pensions, and mass homeownership. America doesn't really have pensions until the New Deal, and the only non-rich Americans who own their own homes in that period are farmers. The (middle-class and below - class resentment of the rich elderly is obviously real, but is about class and not age) urban elderly were seen as pitiable before these institutions came into their own.

I can't speak for 160-acre family farms in the early 20th century US, but in the (very long) era of subsistence family farms in the west, gramps is generally perceived as a net positive (but is still allowed to starve before the prime-age family members when food gets short). So I don't think there would be widescale resentment of the elderly among the smallholding class either.

To trigger class resentment, the elderly would need to be a privileged class. There are two institutions that allow this in the modern west: pensions, and mass homeownership. America doesn't really have pensions until the New Deal, and the only non-rich Americans who own their own homes in that period are farmers.

I tend to disagree with this. According to the census bureau, the home ownership rate in the United States in 1900 was 46.5%. Even in more urban states such as New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, the rate was approximately 1/3.

And that's assuming that pensions and home ownership are the only way a group could end up as a resented class. I also disagree with that.