One who seeks to divide probes along the lines--the fissures, if you prefer--of:
racial and ethnic minorities v. everyone else For example, some of the poorest whites considered themselves superior to all people of color, while some of the poorest people of color considered themselves superior to "white trash." I'd like to believe that being referred to as "white trash" involved a combination of white skin color and bad behavior, but I am not sure about that.
women v. everyone else and/or everyone else v. women
religion(s) v. each other and everyone else and/or everyone else v. one religion or all religions or all religions of a certain kind, such as all Christians or all Muslims or all Jews, regardless of how much diversity, and even bitterness/hatred may exist within any one group
poverty/wealth
class/education/the "right" lineage/social standing/power--not necessarily money, though money may be a part of it.
A "lesser Rockefeller," for example, whose share of the Rockefeller trust may be only $12K a year or zero, but who is still "a Rockefeller." Daughters of the American Revolution. Ditto, across the pond, a "minor royal." In the US, Boston was a bastion, much more so than NYC. See, J.P. Marquand's The Late George Apley. Though without any family money, they can still turn up their noses at, say a Trump. (Think, the Earl of Spencer's eulogizing Diana as "British to the core," being perceived as a swipe at the German origins of the Queen's nuclear family. Yet, he is struggling to finance his estate, ala Downton Abbey, while the Queen and Prince Charles, not so much.) Joe Kennedy Sr. was the Trump equivalent of his earlier years, but, as he intended and worked toward unceasingly, the Kennedy's are now considered "American Royalty." (Remember, FDR appointed Joe Sr. US Ambassador to the Court of St. James). The importance of this particular fissure has lessened in the last century, in the US, anyway. Since at least the 1950s, there have even been attacks on "elites", Ivy League educated people, college educated people ("ivory tower academics"
, etc. Money and power now trump. (pun not intended, except maybe by my unconscious.)
state or regional lines
job/profession lines.
And none of these categories need be totally discrete. Someone may be more kindly disposed to a rich white or a poor white, for example, than they are to all other whites.
Bottom line: "the other" The ones who do not look and sound like we do. The ones referred to in The Preppy Handbook as NOKD (not our kind, dear). The Neanderthals from that other area who just rolled up, looking for food, around the Neanderthals from this cave.
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