- Slumming
Slumming (derived from "
slum ") originally referred to a practice, fashionable among certain segments of themiddle class in many Western countries, whereby one deliberately patronizes areas or establishments which are populated by, or intended for, people well below one's own socio-economic level, motivated by curiosity or a desire for adventure. Most often these establishments take the form of bars orrestaurant s in low-income areas.Recreational slumming was popular in Victorian London, where omnibus rides through
Whitechapel were in vogue. Similarly, slumming tours were documented through the Five Points slums inManhattan during the 1840s. [cite news|title=QUESTIONS FOR GRADY TURNER; Sin-City Exhibitionist|author=Sweeney, Camille |publisher=New York Times|date=October 6, 2002|accessdate=2008-02-06|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E0DB1538F935A35753C1A9649C8B63]It's also associated Who|date=January 2008 with the middle
1980 s, as an outgrowth of theyuppie subculture. The sense that upper-class establishments were phony, overpriced, and affected (ironically, the very criticisms leveled at yuppies themselves) made it fashionable among middle-class professionals to frequent "dives", due to their supposed authenticity andlocal color ."Slumming" (also known as "class
tourism " Who|date=January 2008) has come to refer to many activities that involve interaction with the less fortunate [cite news|title= CULTURE ZONE;Slumming|author=Kakutani, Michiko |publisher=New York Times|date=May 26, 1996|accessdate=2008-02-06|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E7DD1139F935A15756C0A960958260] , especially when motivated by curiosity, adventure, laziness, boredom, and even outright greed and miserliness. The term, and to some extent, the practice, have consequently acquired an unpleasantconnotation , Who|date=January 2008 having become associated with condescension, exploitation, affectation, andbourgeois insensitivity.Who|date=January 2008 Unlike bohemianism orvoluntary simplicity , slumming rarely involves more than a temporary or superficial commitment on the part of its participants; it is by nature a touristic or voyeuristic activity.Fact|date=January 2008In "
Good Will Hunting ", for example, the main character uses "slumming" to describe sexual relationships between rich, well-educated girls and poorer boys, whom they might encounter around their universities.References
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