J.D. Vance: America's forgotten working class
J.D. Vance: الطبقة العاملة الأمريكية المنسية
Former Marine and Yale Law School graduate J.D. Vance writes about how upward mobility really feels. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
I went to a nice restaurant,
إلى مطعم جميل،
the waitress walked around
I'll take some white wine."
النبيذ الأبيض."
or chardonnay?"
أو شاردونيه؟"
stop with the fancy French words
الفرنسية الجذابة
and sauvignon blanc
that I would take the chardonnay,
شاردونيه،
the easiest one to pronounce for me.
بالنسبة إلي لنطقه.
من هذا النوع
as a law student at Yale,
في جامعة ييل،
I'm a cultural outsider.
فأنا غريب عن هذه الثقافة.
or from San Francisco.
أو من سان فرانسيسكو.
struggling in a lot of ways,
of the broader struggles
and divorce have torn apart families.
و الطلاق العائلات.
sense of pessimism that's moved in.
الذي خيّم على البلدة.
in these communities
في هذه المجتمعات
for a lot of these folks,
in their own communities,
الوفيات في مجتمعاتهم الخاصة بهم،
جدًا للصراع.
to that struggle.
for a very long time.
طويلة من الزمن.
that doesn't have a whole lot of money.
من المال.
and even, sadly, my own mom.
والدتي.
that I saw in my own family,
شهدتها في أسرتي،
by a lack of money,
of access to resources and social capital
على الموارد المالية ورأس المال الاجتماعي
when I was 14 years old
في عمر 14 عام
to happen to this kid?"
that I would have struggled
"الحراك الاجتماعي".
مصطلح نظري،
that's very core
are going to live a better life,
حياة أفضل،
to live a materially better existence,
أفضل مادياً،
in the circumstances where they came from.
نشأوا وآتوا منها.
we've learned, unfortunately,
كما نرغب أن يكون في هذا البلد،
as we'd like it to be in this country,
it's very geographically distributed.
في الحقيقة جيدة،
and their part in the American Dream.
ودورهم من الحلم الأمريكي.
in southern Ohio,
ولاية أوهايو،
that kids like that will rise.
in those parts of the country
economic or structural.
أو عمراني هيكلي.
terrible economic trends,
الاقتصادية المروعة،
like coal and steel
كالفحم والصُلب
for folks to get ahead.
المضي قدمًا.
هم في الحقيقة أناس موهوبون،
where the really talented people,
في مدنهم،
high-skilled work at home,
إلى مكان آخر،
or non-profit where they're from,
أو غير هادف للربج في مدنهم،
آخر حاملين معهم مواهبهم.
and taking their talents with them.
هذه المجتمعات،
in a lot of these communities,
the educational leg up
على فرص في وقتٍ لاحق في الحياة.
to have opportunities later in life.
these structural barriers.
في حياتي و مجتمعي،
and my community,
something else mattered.
شيئا آخر مهماً.
but it was no less real.
أقل واقعية.
a very real sense of hopelessness
الشعور الحقيقي باليأس وعدم الأمل
that their choices didn't matter.
اختياراتهم غير المهمة.
no matter how hard they worked,
بجهد وكد.
they tried to get ahead,
للمضي قدماً،
to grow up around.
to very conspiratorial places.
political issue that's pretty hot,
ساخنة نوعًا ما،
you might think that affirmative action
الاعتقاد بأن التمييز اإايجابي
to promote diversity in the workplace
لتعزيز التنوع في مكان العمل
as a tool to hold people like you back.
لإبقاء الناس كما كنتم سابقًا.
a member of the white working class.
في الطبقة العاملة البيضاء.
that isn't just about good or bad policy.
حول سياسة جيدة أو سيئة.
that's actively conspiring,
and financial power
that conspiracy against you --
ضدكم --
when you grow up in that world,
تكبرون في ذلك العالم،
"I'm not going to work hard,
"لن نعمل بجد وكد
it's not going to matter."
after the traditional markers of success,
التقليدية للنجاح،
or a prestigious job,
about those things are unlike me.
ليسوا مثلي.
a family member asked me
سألني أحد أفراد الأسرة
to get by the admissions committee.
على قبول لجنة دخول الجامعة.
that there was a liberal box to check
وجود مربع للتقدمية للتعليم عليه
insecurity in these places
الأماكن غير الآمنة
to be somebody you're not
to that hopelessness,
and you want to make the good choices,
اتخاذ قرارات جيدة،
for yourself and for your family,
أنفسكم وعائلاتكم،
to even know what those choices are
ما هي تلك الخيارات
in a community like I did.
نشأتُ به.
to law school to be a lawyer.
الحقوق لتكونوا محامين.
as research consistently tells us,
كما تخبرنا البحوث باستمرار،
الدخل المنخفض
have bigger endowments,
from Yale for myself,
من جامعة ييل قلت لنفسي،
in need-based aid,
الجامعة كمساعدة للطلبة،
when I got that letter and said,
عمتي/خالتي قائلًا،
that for the first time in my life,
ولأول مرة في حياتي
to that information
المعلومات
didn't have access to that information.
امكانية الوصول إلى هذه المعلومات.
how to shoot a gun, how to shoot it well.
وكيفية إطلاق الرصاص جيدًا.
a damn good biscuit recipe.
جيدة.
is frozen butter, not warm butter.
المجمدة وليس الزبدة الدافئة.
the good decisions
in this 21st century knowledge economy.
الاقتصادية في القرن الواحد والعشرين.
that we gain from our informal networks,
عليها من شبكاتنا غير الرسمية
and family "social capital."
"رأس المال الاجتماعي."
wasn't built for 21st century America,
لم يتم بناؤه لأمريكا القرن الواحد والعشرين
that's really important that's going on
مهم
doesn't like to talk about,
adverse childhood experiences,
for childhood trauma:
لصدمات الاطفال المؤلمة:
put down by a parent repeatedly,
و إهانتهم باستمرار من قبل أحد الوالدين،
أو يضربه،
or abuse alcohol.
أو يدمنُ الكحول.
of childhood trauma,
commonplace in my family.
commonplace in my family right now.
في عائلتي حاليًا.
were going to raise them in a way
a good wage in a steel mill.
جيدة من مصنع الصلب.
to a lot of the childhood trauma
من صدمات الطفولة
my grandma set my grandfather on fire.
جدتي ترفع السلاح في وجه جدي.
في حالة سكر
I'm gonna kill you."
that that affects a child's mind.
على عقلية طفل.
as especially rare,
الحدوث،
Children's Trust Fund found
"صندوق ويسكونسن الائتماني للأطفال"
multiple instances of childhood trauma,
يواجهون حالات من صدمات الطفولة،
for upper-income kids.
ذوي الدخل المرتفع.
instances of childhood trauma.
من صدمات الطفولة.
to the kids who experience that life.
يعيشون حياة كذلك.
more likely to go to jail,
ويذهبون إلى السجون،
في المرحلة الثانوية،
to do to their children
very worst gift to our children,
إلى أطفالنا،
just another statistic,
مجرد رقم آخر في إحصائية،
from college, I went to law school,
وذهبتُ إلى كلية الحقوق،
is that my grandparents,
جداي،
of setting someone on fire fame,
ضد الآخر نار الشهرة،
by the time I came around.
الذي حضرتُ به.
to do the things that kids need,
ما يحتاجه الأطفال من أشياء،
did two things that really matter.
that allowed me to focus on homework
والذي سمح لي بالتركير على واجباتي
should be focused on.
عليها الأطفال.
this incredibly perceptive woman,
بشكل لا يصدق،
a middle school education.
المدرسي المتوسط.
that my community had for me,
من أجلي،
the deck is stacked against them.
االذين يعتقدون أن الأرضية مكدسة ضدهم.
that life wasn't fair.
the reality that their choices matter.
وأن خياراتهم تهم.
to strike that balance.
was the United States Marine Corps.
و هو قوات مشاة البحرية الأمريكية
as a military outfit, and of course it is,
وهو بالفعل كذلك،
was a four-year crash course
دورة مكثيفة لمدة أربع سنوات
how to do laundry,
وأقوم بغسل ملابسي،
how to manage my finances.
شؤوني المالية.
my community didn't teach me.
to go buy a car for the very first time,
لأول مرة،
low, low interest rate of 21.9 percent,
بقيممة 21.9%،
to sign on the dotted line.
and get a better deal."
على صفقة أفضل."
to that knowledge.
إلى هذه المعلمومات.
a financial calamity, frankly.
كارثة مالية.
is that I had a lot of good fortune
محظوظًا جدًا
an important role in my life.
from Ohio State, from Yale,
إلى جامعة ييل،
that social capital gap
apparently, that I had.
على ما يبدو.
aren't going to have that good fortune,
ذلك الحظ الجيد،
really important questions for all of us
لكل واحدٍ فينا
how we're going to give low-income kids
إعطاء أطفال الدخل المنخفض
access to a loving home.
الحصول على منزل مليء بالحب.
to teach low-income parents
الدخل المنخفض
with their children,
بطريقة أفضل،
about how we give social capital,
منح الرأسمال الإجتماعي،
who don't have it.
الذين ليس لديهم ذلك.
how we teach working class children
اطفال الطبقة العاملة
and financial management.
to this problem,
anxiously awaiting their dad,
when he comes through the door,
من باب النزل،
why she doesn't cook him dinner,
no hope for the future
في المستقبل
wants to live a better life.
to show it to them.
تلك الحياة.
starts asking better questions
في طرح أسئلة أفضل
to more of our communities
للمزيد من مجتمعاتنا
to have a very significant problem.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
J.D. Vance - AuthorFormer Marine and Yale Law School graduate J.D. Vance writes about how upward mobility really feels.
Why you should listen
J.D. Vance grew up in the Rust Belt city of Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and served in Iraq. A graduate of the Ohio State University and Yale Law School, he has contributed to the National Review and is a principal at a leading Silicon Valley investment firm. He is the author of Hillbilly Elegy, a number one New York Times Best Seller. Vance lives in San Francisco with his wife and two dogs.
J.D. Vance | Speaker | TED.com