Classism in America
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Classism in America
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Re: Classism in America
#2Social class is astonishingly multidimensional as pointed out in the works of C. Wright Mills (Power Elite), Paul Fussel (Class), Tom Wolfe (The Pump House Gang), etc.
In my extended family there are no college professors, but a lot of cops, even a lot of women that are cops. (There are some accountants, but they are forensic accountants ;-)
When I get stopped by the cops I don't worry, they like my attitude, they will tell me that people don't like speeding in their residential neighborhood and to them I look more like a guy who doesn't like speeding in my residential neighborhood and not the kind of guy who likes to play Initial D in residential neighborhoods.
Sometimes I've been a bystander when it looked like the cops showed up to arrest the first black person they saw, or when 15 police vehicles show up to arrest some black guy as thin as a rail and I even have a friend who grew up in a much richer family than me who had a bad attitude towards the police and has had his ass kicked, etc. Somehow though, even though I am not a cop and I don't particularly see things the way cops do, I've somehow absorbed enough protective coloration that I have a lot of "privilege" in this area, and less in some other areas.
Re: Classism in America
#3This is a very good article.
In America, there is also an example where we "build up" the social class of some segment to compensate for our self-centered guilt.
Take the example of the military service. The vast majority of people would rather be at the mall and let someone else fight and die for the country. But the "I support our troops" bumper sticker is everywhere, or maybe they sent ten bucks to Fisher House or Operation Homefront, but not once have those people wanted to volunteer at a veterans hospital.
So what do we do to cover got guilt? "Ah, let's do a parade for them!!!"
Re: Classism in America
#4This is well worth the read. It's far too easy not to perceive the class issues she brings up, because we're so uncomfortable discussing them. And if you're affluent, it's much easier not to think of yourself as part of a self-perpetuating privileged class.
Re: Classism in America
#5Social class is astonishingly multidimensional as pointed out in the works of C. Wright Mills (Power Elite), Paul Fussel (Class), Tom Wolfe (The Pump House Gang), etc. In my extended family there are no college professors, but a lot of cops, even a lot of women that are cops. (There are some accountants, but they are forensic accountants ;-) When I get stopped by the cops I don't worry, they like my attitude, they wi…
Think it's very possible that you believe law enforcement thinks about the world differently than someone trying to avoid law enforcement.
My understanding is that they share the same mental model of the world on average; which is not a critical view of either, just what I've heard from people that know much, much more about how different types of people think than me.
To be clear, it would be foolish to say all people, even of a given type, think the same.
Re: Classism in America
#6This is a very good article. In America, there is also an example where we "build up" the social class of some segment to compensate for our self-centered guilt. Take the example of the military service. The vast majority of people would rather be at the mall and let someone else fight and die for the country. But the "I support our troops" bumper sticker is everywhere, or maybe they sent ten bucks to Fisher House or…
This is not something unique to the US. Mexican soap operas and movies often trump up the darker, poorer people as "noble savages" and native culture is celebrated. However if you look a bit closer, all the money and power is still in the hands of the whiter characters!
Re: Classism in America
#7Re: Classism in America
#8This is a very good article. In America, there is also an example where we "build up" the social class of some segment to compensate for our self-centered guilt. Take the example of the military service. The vast majority of people would rather be at the mall and let someone else fight and die for the country. But the "I support our troops" bumper sticker is everywhere, or maybe they sent ten bucks to Fisher House or…
The troops example is a tricky one. Many people disagree with war as a way to solve problems, but respect that soldiers aren't actually responsible for said wars, and are doing a horrible job in horrible circumstances.
Thus you can support the troops, but deplore the actions of those who caused them to be there in the first case.
I do agree that volunteering at a veteran's hospital would be a perfect way to contribute though. Volunteering at any hospital would hopefully be a useful contribution to society!
Re: Classism in America
#9Re: Classism in America
#10This is a very good article. In America, there is also an example where we "build up" the social class of some segment to compensate for our self-centered guilt. Take the example of the military service. The vast majority of people would rather be at the mall and let someone else fight and die for the country. But the "I support our troops" bumper sticker is everywhere, or maybe they sent ten bucks to Fisher House or…
When I was a teenager I thought charity absent asceticism was pathetic. Why give the homeless guy your pocket change when you can afford to give him $20 for dinner? Why donate to the fire department, when you could make time in your life to volunteer for the fire department? (I live in a small New England town where volunteer depts are the norm.)
Compensating for self-centered guilt is not evil or virtuous. Life is not boolean. When you start to dig into any one person's psychology it's amazing any of us have the gumption to wake up in the morning and accomplish anything given how much of our habits and behaviors are coping mechanisms for something else.
This was a very good article. But the conclusion that we should all feel guilty for covering up our guilt with social class worship is not terribly productive.