Social Class Differences<\/strong><\/h3>\nAlthough the range of socioeconomic groups may be as large in the U.S. as in Nicaragua, the distribution is quite different, with the U.S. being mostly middle class with smaller lower and upper class contingents, while the lower class is the largest in Nicaragua, with a returning but still small middle and upper class. While some middle class has returned from exile, the lower class still comprises probably 90% of the population. Also, because the average wage is much lower in Nicaragua, the middle class North American is more comparable in lifestyle, education, and experience to the higher classes of Nicaraguans. He\/she is also likely to live in the same section of town and socialize with the upper classes than with the middle class.<\/p>\n
Expat Voices: “I\u2019d say that Nicaraguans tend to be a bit sexist. Interestingly, as an American, you see both extremes: people who patronize you and your \u2018fat green wallet\u2019, and the occasional \u2018if looks could kill yankees, the world would be a better place\u2019 kind of reaction.”\u00a0US Foreign Service spouse, 2007<\/em><\/p>\nThe glaring class\/economic differences, along with the poverty of the lowest classes, are often disturbing to North Americans. While they probably have a maid, they may try to treat her more as an equal than they feel the Nicaraguans do, or to somehow \u201cmake up for\u201d things that have happened to Nicaragua. For example, some North American families may invite the maid to join them for meals in the dining room, rather than separately in the\u00a0\ufffckitchen as in Nicaraguan families. Social class differences are much more accepted as a natural part of the order of things, or fate, by Nicaraguans. In spite of the teachings of the revolution, and the new democracy, the maid herself may feel uncomfortable in the role of friend her North American employers try to put her in, and may actually suffer greatly from these good intentions.<\/p>\n
Excerpted and adapted from the ebook “Cultural Dimensions of Expatriate Living and Working in Nicaragua” by Bill Drake.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the previous article in this series, Bill Drake explained “The Lateness Phenomenon” among Nicaraguans. Click here to read Part 1 of “Understanding Time, Reliability, and Class in Nicaraguan Culture.” In Part 2 below, Bill explores the general North American stereotype of Nicaraguans’ unreliability, and provides some insight into social classes that helps to resolve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":2420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[56,77,294],"yst_prominent_words":[2410,7481,16333,3110,16338,16334,16337,2626,16332,1889,4334,16328,5128,5122,13691,16339,16335,2198,20860,16336],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1541"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41117,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1541\/revisions\/41117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1541"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}