Classism

Classism

• i) People who live in poverty are lazy. You have made your own bed, now you sleep in it. If you work hard enough, you can be anything you want to. We live in a country where we can be or do anything we want to. Education is the key to getting ahead in life. Welfare bum.  She should quit having kids. Chances are, you have heard or perhaps said any one of these phrases. They are common misconceptions often presented about class in Canada. The difficulty with these blanket statements is that they are discriminatory and blind people to the real issues. Where Intersectionality and class meet, the struggles of people living in poverty are real, and so is the fight to rise above their “station”. These statements fail to offer a picture of real people in very real day to day struggles, often fighting just to put food on the table, suffering depression and suffocating fear and doing their best to perform the daily tasks that most of us take for granted, such as getting to work, or grocery shopping. These marginalized people among us are often one pay cheque away from not being able to pay the bills, and often must make a choice of whether to pay the electricity or the rent. Even then they often must listen to those with more money berate them for the often-small joys they take in the occasional meal out, or some other perceived unwise expenditure. Instead they are met with. “Just work hard! I did it! Look at me! you just have to save!” These are the stories which silence the poor and keep the status quo.

DiAngelo and Sensoy, in their book Is everyone really equal, say that class is about culture (pg. 165) and I have recently heard it said that we don’t recognize our privilege, because it is the waters we swim in. I must agree. For example, as I was reading the stories of my classmates about class, I saw one that stood out to me. It was, It’s Not About How Much…Its About How. The author speaks about living in Australia, and how she went to a private school and didn’t realize at the time how her social status was any different then that of anyone else’s status. She continues with her story to say that she understands her parent’s wealthy lifestyle didn’t come easily to them, but that they aspired to create the lifestyle their parents had shown them. The author acknowledges she is privileged, but then says this. “Social-status is not something I see when I look at others, it does not matter where you grew up, who raised you, how much you have…it is how you choose to live your life and how you treat others that is important.” Respectfully, I would argue with her statements on a couple of different points. In the class text we have learned that “when middle-class people proclaim that they have achieved with they have because they were taught the value of hard work, we need to ask ourselves whom we believe wasn’t taught that value. Further how are we defining hard work.” DeAngelo and Sensoy (pg 174-75)

I have lived and continue to live as a financially challenged individual.  My areas of intersectionality – where I grew up and who raised me and how much money we had matters very much. My background and economic status have shaped the jobs I have been able to get, the education I have been able to pursue, and my emotional stability at times. My parents worked very hard to get to where they were, and yet were unable to provide me with what I needed to survive myself. Because of difficulties in my life, I was on my own by fourteen, immediately dropped into a situation of poverty. By fifteen I had to quit high school to survive. School was no longer an option. Finding work was difficult, because I didn’t have the education or the clothes to find the jobs. Once I had kids, I would argue that I worked as hard or harder then some to provide my children with what they needed to grow up healthy and safe, but as you can see from my story we still didn’t have a vehicle for a long time.

“I worry that it might be too much for two little girls, but there is no choice. It is buy groceries or take a cab. We have to eat. Struggling with a bag of groceries hanging off of the handle of the stroller, I push the plastic wheels over snow and ice on the road. It is clearer then the sidewalk. Someday I will have a car, but it won’t be soon. I have tough choices to make on a limited income as a single mom.“

Even after I was married it was a long time before we were able to have a car, and even then, it was because the kindness of another.

“We have a car!” My husband says to me in an astonished voice. “They are giving us a car!” Friends of ours had woken in the middle of the night separately and decided that we should have their second vehicle. It was eight years old, and in great shape. They even put tires on it. It was like Christmas, only better. No more walking, no more begging rides’

In the past twenty years, we have often worked several jobs at a time struggling to make ends meet. We have taken the jobs most people don’t want to provide for our family. Today we live in a reduced rent situation which is the only reason I can attend school. I would argue we work harder then many.

There are those who feel that money isn’t everything. While I certainly agree it isn’t, it does inform those around you of your station in life. In Is it All About The Money” [SIC] my classmate Carmel indicates that wealth is about far more then money. While I accept the sentiment behind what she says, let’s examine one statement.

“I thought that wealth was much more then money, it was being able to walk, become educated, having exceptance [SIC] receiving and giving love, being thankful and having good health.”

I appreciate the thought behind what Caramel says, however, this story is a divergence from having a vulnerable conversation about class. It silences those who live in poverty by not acknowledging the power of institutionalized classism and the difficulties surrounding it, and so I will present some arguments. For example, I would argue that it is difficult to remain healthy while you are working so many hours that you can’t rest, or despite the hours you work you still don’t have proper medical coverage or the money to buy medicine. I would argue that it is difficult to obtain education when you don’t have money for groceries or a car. While I can walk, and I am grateful for that, walking because you have no choice is another matter. “It’s a long walk, mostly uphill. I worry that it might be too much for two little girls, but there is no choice.” It is buy groceries or take a cab. Acceptance is great, and so is love but they don’t feed your little ones. When the necessities of life are not being met properly, I would argue that Caramel’s statements do not apply“

Finally, I will challenge my classmate Shaun about this statement. “I am very fortunate to live in the country I live in because I have gained so much knowledge and accomplishment that changed my social status within a few years.”

Again, I would like to reiterate that there are many in this country who are not making it, who can’t afford the car, or perhaps clean water, or food. This statement ignores intersectionality, and doesn’t recognize the difficulties of rising above the class we are trapped in. Those who do succeed are in the minority according to Sensoy and DiAngelo. “While some people will change class, they will be the exception rather than the rule. The Rags to Riches story so beloved and repeated in Hollywood is unlikely in real life.” (pg. 167)

 I am an example of that struggle. While our situation has improved, it has taken a very long time, and it still hasn’t taken us solidly into middle class.

“Our financial situation has slowly improved too. It has taken time, and years, but slowly we have made progress. That was twenty -two years ago now.”

• ii) The difficulty with stories like the ones shared by my classmates is that while the individuals mean no harm and are good people, the stories themselves promote common misconceptions. For example, ‘We live in a classless society where anyone can make it.” Sensoy and DiAngelo (pg 167) These stories blame those who are struggling to survive by suggesting they must have done something to deserve their poorness or that anyone who wants a job should just go get one; therefore poor people are lazy. They don’t consider other areas of sectionality such as race or background which don’t allow a person to move ahead. They don’t recognize structural or institutional powers, such as the welfare system which provides not even enough to live, and then penalizes the client when they do earn money. They silence those who are marginalized, by portraying an image of the poor person as someone who is “less”, not smart enough or lazy.

Anyone can get ahead. If you work hard enough, you can make it. Education is the key to success.  These are the normal narratives most people believe in. They are the stories you hear from well-meaning family and friends with money and privilege. They are the ads and movies promoted on tv. These are the stories that promote ideas that hurt those living in the marginalized sections of society. It leaves them feeling hopeless and like failures in a system that is set up to keep the status quo. It causes those who are in positions of privilege to be blind because of the waters they swim in. Challenging our perceived normal narratives in the areas of class-ism and intersectionality is difficult and uncomfortable but it will open our eyes to the inequalities and struggles of those around us.

Disclaimer – I chose to write my Self Analysis from a different point of view, because I found it difficult to relate to many of my fellow students and the lifestyles they know. I respect the back grounds that many of you came from and understand how difficult it can be when someone disrupts the narratives you are accustomed to with what may sound like criticism. Thank you for sharing your stories and allowing me to share my reality.

References

Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Understanding Intersectionality Through Classism. In Is Everyone really equal (2nd ed., pp. 165,174,175,167). New Yok, NY: Teachers College Press.

Class Notes