Do people only associate with others like themselves

[FedupofArsenalgame]

After reading the 49 year old who was asked if she was a grandparent I noticed that many people state the don't know anyone in their " social circle" who would be. It's got me thinking whether people only keep social circles with the same " type" ?

For example all MC in professional jobs, or sahm etc etc etc

Thinking of a group of 6 of us women who socialize regularly we have a hairdresser, a barrister, a " lady who lunches" a delivery driver, payroll clerk and someone on disability benefits.

So completely different to each other. As far as kids are concerned 3 are child free, 2 have 3 adult children and grandchildren, and another has one adult child.

Seems we all get a varying view of others lives but is this unusual? Rather than sticking strictly to our own " type"

They're all people with lives? Maybe interested in other people and their lives? I wouldn't expect anybody to have anything in common with anyone else, but it wouldn't surprise me to know that they were friends.

I'm neurodiverse and very selective with friends. All my friends are pretty nerdy like me. I'd say we all have fairly different personalities, but we share common interests, and have similar senses of morality/outlooks on a lot of topics. My closest friend is a single mum who doesn't work currently and isn't likely to for sometime. All my other friends have professional roles e.g. teaching, healthcare, etc. I'm a MH nurse. It wouldn't bother me what job someone had, but I do need my friends to be on the same intellectual wavelength as me, as I'm someone who enjoys chatting about 'deep topics'. I have a baby but have struggled to make mum friends. I'm appallingly bad at small talk in a social setting (though can somehow feign it for patients at work 🙈).

Politically we all very much align. I couldn't be mates with a Reform voter, for example. I'm happy to speak to and get along with whoever, but we won't be besties if we're at opposite ends of the political spectrum.

I also have a lot of superficial hobby friends (a nerdy hobby), who I meet up with to do the hobby, but who I wouldn't consider friends outside the hobby. I've met a lot of people I wouldn't normally hang out with though, and that's fun!

My friends are all white (because people seem to be mentioning this on this thread), but that's because I live in an area that is probably like 90% white (I went to a school that only had one black kid!). I obviously don't care what race etc my friends are.

I ultimately think we just hang out with people in a similar socioeconomic group to us, as it's what is familiar and it is who we encounter the most. I never really thought about it until I went to uni, where it became glaringly obvious I was very working class lol. I think there are exceptions such as childhood friends, and people we meet through specific life circumstances (e.g. I have a friend from a mental health group I used to attend), but it generally holds true. I don't really care what background someone is from, but I just don't go anywhere where I'd be likely to socialise with someone upper class, and the area I live in is very working class.

My close friend group is ethnically diverse but we are all the same age and from a similar religious background (we are school friends). We're pretty similar to be honest - all have degrees, long term partners/DHs, all have DC, and are mostly in professional roles.

I realised during Brexit that I work and socialise with left wing, remainers, generally quite liberal/feminist however you want to describe it too. It was such an eye opener. I couldn’t understand why any politicians were backing Brexit because I knew nobody in favour of it at all. When the leave vote came in, and not long after when Corbyn didn’t become PM it really made me realise what an echo chamber I’d made for myself. I’m much more centrist than left-wing now and I make a point of really listening to other people’s views and not writing them off. Eg not everyone concerned with immigration is racist not everyone who votes Tory is an idiot.

I actually had a really interesting chat with someone who votes conservative during the whole Marcus Rashford free school meals thing and they were saying how concerned they were about it taking away the autonomy of parents providing for their children and how they deserved that autonomy as much as any other parent. It really shifted my views on how the argument had been presented vs what was actually being discussed. I definitely think over the past decade I’ve became more open to others views and widened my own social circle a bit. But I am very forgiving of people I know in their late teens/early 20s who think they know it all because I remember what it was like to have that idealism before you learn that whoever gets in to power will end up disappointing you in the long run anyway!

To be clear, a Higher Education qualification is not a quality I seek in any potential new chums!

I know very few people socially who aren’t middle class graduates - there is diversity of race and country of origin, same sex and hetero couples, some diversity of politics although generally centre-ish and liberal. There is diversity in income which has become apparent now most of my circle are 40s (I have a close friend who is mid 60s otherwise but my circles are pretty much all xennials) and, as I said, few people who aren’t graduates and middle class.

', am very similar @PlainJaneSuperbrainthe2nd . Everyone I know is middle class and most are graduates. My non graduate friends mostly hold or held commissions in the armed forces.