The US is deeply segregated not only along racial lines, but along class lines as well: from housing to schools to healthcare,...
The US is deeply segregated not only along racial lines, but along class lines as well: from housing to schools to healthcare, many of our major institutions are designed to allow rich people to keep poor people as far away from them as possible.
Where do rich and poor people interact with one another? If I’m reading this study right, it’s restaurants. Which restaurants? They find that some of the most cross-class locations in the country are cheap full-service restaurants: “Olive Garden, Applebee’s, Chili’s and IHOP.”
The more I think about this finding the more it makes sense. Places like Olive Garden are some of the only locations in US society which are simultaneously “nice” enough to draw in high-income diners and cheap enough to attract low-income diners. Rich people go to, say, Outback Steakhouse because they see it as a cheap and easy meal that’s better than fast food, poor people go because it’s one of the closest things to a nice steakhouse you can eat at without dropping $100+ per person.
Other cross-class locations: churches, libraries, credit unions, alcohol stores, the DMV. Locations which worsen class segregation: golf courses and country clubs, bars, museums.