Over the years, elite American institutions have grown more and more scrupulous about achieving certain kinds of demographic representation — particularly those that lean left. That’s something for which they should be applauded because America’s elites need to look like America.
But whatever rainbow hues of race and sexual orientation are visible in the group photos, American elites across the political spectrum are actually becoming less representative in one way: Most of them hold college degrees, and many also have advanced degrees, often from highly selective institutions.The college-educated are only about a third of the population, so they cannot build a durable majority without wooing other voters into the fold. With educational polarization rising — and older dividing lines like race beginning to fade — the left cannot afford to forget just how different educated people are from whatever demographic group they are supposed to represent…
And so too with “Latinx.” College-educated people of any ethnicity are noticeably further left on social issues, better able to keep abreast of constantly shifting language norms, and more likely to work and socialize with the professionals who use such language. So college-educated Hispanics are probably quite a bit more comfortable with “Latinx” than working-class Hispanics are. They’re also the ones likely to be sitting at the table when an institution or a politician decides to use it.
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