Some Final Thoughts

I feel that my exploration of the social class system in the United States has been fascinating. I began this project by studying how people of different social classes navigate our complex society in order to achieve their goals. For me, social class seems to dictate how one might experience the American Dream. I suspect that many other people feel the same way. When you think about it, the notion of the American Dream is something very unusual. Nowhere else in the world do the citizens of a country so closely align each individual’s idea of personal destiny with the promise of a national standard of living. Therefore, the manifestation of distinct social classes in our purportedly meritocratic society is antithetical to the notion that our country is “the land of opportunity.” However, these classes do indeed exist, and they have substantial obstacles near the boundaries whether they are visible or not. For example, the “glass ceiling.”

I drew on my first-hand experience and knowledge gained in the liberal arts program to inform my examination of social class in America. As I stated in previous posts, I grew up without access to higher social stratifications. I was intimately familiar with the lower stratifications and the values, norms, and mores that govern this end of the spectrum. Therefore, I spent considerable effort and time studying quote the “other half” including reading Bobos in Paradise by David Brooks. Brooks describes his humorous and lighthearted examination of America's new upper class as “comic sociology.” I must admit I found this read quite enjoyable. Nearly 20 years have passed since Brooks wrote BOBOs, yet it is surprisingly relevant. The term BOBO comes from the first two letters of both bourgeoisie and bohemian. The thesis of this book is really that these two opposite classes of people have become indistinguishable in our society. The bohemian counterculture of the 1960s has blurred with the capitalist fervor of the 1980s. In addition to coining the term bobo, he describes new kinds of social class problems among the well-to-do. He describes the phenomenon of SID which stands for status-income disequilibrium. This occurs when one’s high ranking status doesn't match the income that they earn. For example, a tenured intellectual who provides expert commentary on television May clean her own apartment while her social peers earn millions of dollars per year in the tech sector. They attend the same parties but drive to opposite sides of town at the end of the night. The tech CEO may live in a mansion in a wealthy area and the intellectual may rent an apartment in a less fashionable neighborhood.

Several documentaries have been exceptional resources in my quest to understand class. People Like Us is a documentary that surveys the wide spectrum of class in America. It is an interesting and authoritative resource as the contributors were experts on class. They include David Brooks, Paul Fussel, R. Cori Hay, Benilde Little, and Lang Phipps. However, the most important and enlightening documentary I used was called Class Dismissed. This documentary examines how television frames the working class. This film was based on a book by Dr. Pepi Leistyna, professor of applied linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. It focuses on how class is portrayed on television and how the shows that reflect our culture often overlook the important economic realities that underlie American life. I posted links to these videos as well as other multimedia resources I thought would benefit my audience. These books, articles, films, and other resources greatly increased my own personal knowledge and thereby my account of how class functions in America. I used this knowledge combined with what I have learned from the MALA program to gain a deeper understanding which ultimately allows me to ask better questions in the future.

The liberal arts discipline has informed my studies on social class in America in several different ways. First, I found this topic to be interesting while studying sociolinguistics. I originally thought of this topic in terms of how people use different dialects, vernacular, and other linguistic characteristics depending on their native region of the country. I was advised that this could make a good topic for my master’s thesis, but I ultimately decided this should be packaged in a creative outlet as a capstone project. Second, while studying human geography and inequality I found that there were many customs, folkways, and other invisible or unspoken rules of social order that cause great inequality. Third, the theme of my liberal arts foundations classes was community and a lot of the challenges we face in relating to each other as a community depend on social class interactions. Fourth, the issues of racial equality in this country are quite complicated and often confounded by adherence to social class norms. Lastly, I have often questioned where I fit in the great scheme of things. I feel that we are all searching for truth in some way. Studying philosophy, identity and truth as part of the liberal arts has informed my understanding of the world in new ways and helped me to know myself better than before. Right now, my search for truth has led me to examine the social class structure in America. This has helped me understand how people from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds navigate our society’s challenges in order to mitigate or transcend them. Having a well-rounded understanding of different class values than my own will enable me to more adeptly do the same. Looking forward, there is still much research to be done in this area. I will be exploring other important topics as they relate to physiological characteristics and social class, such as the link between lower social class and obesity, why there is a correlation between ADHD and income disparity, and why mental illness presents differently among social classes.

Bard Prison Initiative - College Behind Bars (PBS)

(Click to Watch on PBS)

People Like Us - Tammy Crabtree's Story 2013 Update

BOBOs in Paradise

Thoughts on Education and Class

Thoughts on Education and Class

Education is one important ingredient in the mix that determines a person's social class position. The overwhelming majority of Americans are educated through the public school system. There is a huge disparity between the funding, resources, and ultimate outcomes of the richest and poorest schools. Clear and overwhelming research supports this fact but most people in this country know this instinctively or from personal experience. As I continue my study on social class in America, I draw from my own personal experience in the public education system. I was born in Washington, D.C. and lived in a suburb not far outside the city. My single mother worked at The Pentagon and sent me to a private preschool for two years then on to public kindergarten through first grade in the town of Annandale. This is part of Fairfax County, Virginia which according to my research (IES, 2016), is one of the wealthiest school districts in the country. I showed promise and I believe this had a major impact on my early development.

However, these privileges were short-lived. We had to move down South after the passing of my grandmother and subsequent loss of income and childcare that she provided. This was a complete culture shock for me, and I began to genuinely hate school. To further complicate things, my mother lost the government job she held for twenty-one years for reasons that were no fault of her own, chief among them being lack of adequate childcare. We were forced to rely on government assistance in the form of welfare, food stamps, and Section 8 HUD housing for several years.

The financial constraints impacted my education in various ways. Purchasing school clothes and supplies became more difficult and the lack of disposable income created problems financing things like school functions, book fairs, fall festivals, field trips, social gatherings, birthday presents for other children, and delayed our first purchase of a home computer and encyclopedia.  

As time went on, I became more acclimated to the Southern school system and I was lucky enough to have a very caring and brilliant fifth-grade math teacher. Her name was Dr. Nelda Lowrance and she was the first teacher I ever knew who earned her Ph.D. I loved her class and I became engaged in learning math under her tutelage. She noticed that I did very well in some areas and recommended to my mother I be tested for placement in the gifted program. Looking back, this should have been done much earlier because of my performance in pre-school. I was happy to be in a smaller class with more individualized attention while finishing elementary school yet gifted education for middle and high school fell under the umbrella of special education and most all available resources went towards meeting the great need of the developmentally challenged children.

 I really appreciate what Dr. Lowrance did to help me learn and achieve at a higher level. I feel that having such a great teacher at that formative age allowed me to reach for possibilities above which my circumstances were trying to ground me. I mean that in a literal sense because at age sixteen I began taking flying lessons at our local airport. The economic challenges continued to be oppressive but having that confidence in my abilities allowed me to do it. When I was nineteen, I enrolled at MTSU. I was ineligible for loans that would supplement my education and reduce the number of hours I needed to work. I was one year too old to receive the lottery scholarship at the time. Thank goodness many things have changed since 2003.

I often explain my early college difficulties away as immaturity. That lets people know that I am now wise enough to take personal responsibility for my actions and that I have grown to accept them rather than blaming society for my own personal failures. Yet,  I know that was only a small part of it since at seventeen years old I was responsible enough to be a night shift manager at Wendy’s with keys to the building and a solo pilot with the endorsement of a former full Cornel in the Air Force who logged over 16,000 flight hours in his career. The real reason I faced such difficulty was directly related to my socioeconomic problems. I spent many years working and hopping from job to job in restaurants, at drive-through windows, waiting tables, stocking shelves in stores, running cash registers, working in factories, driving forklifts, bartending, and most recently at a car title pawn shop. I spent years trapped in a cycle of consumer debt.

I tried to go back to college several times, but each time I found myself unable to juggle work, the hour-long commutes each way, managing my disabilities, and the coursework. I believed that I was solely responsible for my failure in college. However, as time went on many structural and societal things began to change. Technology got better, Middle Tennessee got access to broadband Internet, the Tennessee lottery scholarship began applying retroactively to adults, I was classified as an independent rather than a dependent student for financial aid purposes, D2L was developed, more online courses became available, I was older and had a car that was paid for, the disability and access center began offering more comprehensive services, Walker library was built and offered more services, two on-campus parking garages were built, an additional math tutoring lab was added, MT one-stop was established, discount textbooks became available near campus and from Amazon, student health services was established, campus intersections were replaced with roundabouts alleviating traffic, the University writing center was established, and I finally had healthcare insurance with the passing of the Affordable Care Act known colloquially as Obamacare. Additionally, MTSU now offers academic amnesty for people in similar situations, however, I already paid out of pocket and repeated many classes before that program became available.

All of these are great advantages for students at MTSU, yet I must admit I sometimes think about how I will have to compete with these better equipped younger graduates in the job market who have benefited from these changes simply by being in the right place at the right time.

              It is true that I am older now but what exactly made me a “nontraditional” student?  I enrolled at the traditional age. I didn't choose to start a business, have a family, or some other goal that would take the place of my goal of earning a college degree. I didn't make any notable life mistakes. I've never been in trouble with the law or gotten involved with drugs. According to mtsu.edu, over 40% of students are classified as nontraditional. Is this simply a way to sugarcoat the fact that there are structural and economic problems that thwart our ability to compete with so-called traditional students?

 We know that there is mutual incomprehension among the diverse strata of social classes in the United States. The aggregation of barriers to access in learning communities, traditional norms, and economic factors are often a result of an inadequate political framework that dominates public education in the United States.

Conservative approaches to education have been abysmal lately. According to theatlantic.com, “At the beginning of the 2010s, 58 percent of Republicans believed that colleges and universities had a positive impact on the course of the country, according to the Pew Research Center. As the decade nears its close, that number has fallen precipitously: It now sits at 33 percent, with the majority of the drop occurring from 2015 to 2017.” Therefore, we must breakdown this morally bankrupt ideology while at the same time working the system that currently exists.

This has wide-reaching applications outside of the educational community period when rehabilitating prisoner’s education is the number one way to reduce recidivism. According to bard.edu, prison inmates who receive college degrees while incarcerated have a 4% recidivism rate compared to the 50% recidivism rate that is typical of non-graduates. Education is the key to escaping poverty and becoming a productive citizen. However, conservatives argue that these prisoners should not have the opportunity to go to college While incarcerated in a taxpayer-funded facility.

In conclusion, I feel there are many ways that meet we must work to deconstruct the current socioeconomic system and replace it with a more equitable and sustainable system that provides equal opportunity regardless of social stratification. The 2020 election is quickly approaching, and it seems there has never been a more important time in history to understand these issues and work to achieve positive outcomes that will benefit our society and future generations.

References

https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2016/2016303.pdf

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/08/republicans-conservatives-college/596497/

https://bpi.bard.edu/press-clip/the-global-search-for-education-if-you-teach-them-they-will-grow/

Class Dissmissed by Dr. Pepi Leistyna

Class Dismissed is an excellent documentary film that explores how television frames the working class. 

Preview:     

Full Film:    

Additional Resources:

(https://archive.org/details/PEPILEISTYNATRIBUTE.BR4.24.15)

PEPI LEISTYNA TRIBUTE 

Lecture:

On the Internet, No One Knows You’re Not Rich. Except This Account.

On the Internet, No One Knows You’re Not Rich. Except This Account.

This is an interesting article from New York Times contributor Taylor Lorenz who looks at how one Instagram user is exposing phony young entrepreneurs. They claim to have become wealthy through legitimate means, yet often dupe their followers into believing that pictures of them sitting in private jets or on expensive cars means they own them. They use this social capital to sell get rich quick schemes to the unsuspecting and often vulnerable people that follow them on Instagram. 

Social Class and Capitalism

Social class in America is shaped in large part by our capitalist economic system.
The higher income stratification of our social class system consists of wealthy people who own valuable assets. Often the assets they own are part of corporations that they also own or have an equity stake in. People who own equity in corporations can be owners, shareholders, shareholders of parent companies, holders of bearer shares, and numerous other ways that allow them to exercise control and derive profit from companies. Therefore, I will refer to these people as ultimate beneficial owners (UBOs). These people are sometimes public figures but more commonly they are private individuals who demand anonymity to limit liability, scrutiny, and taxation. People often think of corporations as giant faceless entities, yet there are real living breathing people who own and control them.

My personal observation of social class in the American Justice System.

As I continue this project on class in America, I have been seeing the world through the lens of class and I have become more aware of the distinctions between classes of people everywhere I go. This week I found myself in a courtroom and I noticed that it was a great place to observe the intersection social classes in America. My reason for being there was that a family tragedy occurred last year. My uncle (my mother's brother) was killed by a driver under the influence of drugs while taking an early morning bike ride. The driver was to accept a plea agreement for vehicular homicide and the family was there to give impact statements to the court. Since the accident, we have worked with the local District Attorney to understand the process and the facts of the case. The driver was represented by the public defender rather than a private defense attorney. We live in a small town. And while not everyone knows each other most people are at least peripherally familiar with who's who. It is not uncommon to know the judge, the District Attorney, or the public defender. I happen to have been acquainted with everyone involved (including with the driver who was going to accept the plea deal) and I think that gives me a unique perspective in this situation. When you walk into a courtroom immediately see the distinctions and social class. The lawyers at the front of the room or dressed in the very best business suits, the defendants are in handcuffs wearing jumpsuits, and the people in the gallery are generally dressed in everyday clothes, and the lady judge is wearing a simple black robe and a small pair of diamond stud earrings that surely cost more than most of the cars parked outside. Just as important, are the things that go unseen. The judge and lawyers live in comfortable ‘mcmansions’ surrounded by our local golf course, drive premium luxury vehicles, and have well-appointed offices from which they frequently abscond to popular sunny destinations. The bailiffs have steady incomes which affords them a much more modest lifestyle, yet they enjoy the privileges of being part of local law enforcement. The district attorney lives a comfortable life in the next town over where he owns a fair amount of real estate. I know from talking to him that his uncle, Dan Quale, was the former Vice President of The United States. He is a right-wing conservative who is not shy about sharing his beliefs. He once told me an interesting story about knowing the Bush family and visiting the White House and sitting behind the resolute desk as a young man and sleeping in a tuxedo on the floor of the Naval Observatory (the vice presidential residence) after a long day of inauguration festivities. I have little doubt that these early experiences influenced his ability to obtain a high paying, prestigious, and powerful job. The defendant in this case worked as a waiter and later as an assistant manager at the Cracker Barrel restaurant where we frequently visit. However, the first time I met him was when I processed a small (high interest) loan for him years ago when I worked at a local finance company. He is 50 years old and had no criminal history except for a DUI he received last year for alcohol intoxication. He was still on probation when this accident occurred and had an ignition interlock device installed on his car. However, the intoxicant this time was prescription Xanax which is why he was able to start the car that fateful morning. He was always a nervous sort of person which I believe contributed to his heart attack that he suffered a few years back. It was no surprise to me that he had a prescription for the strong anti-anxiety medication. He moved from Rhode Island to Tennessee some years ago and was living with his infirm mother and taking care of her. She was to frail to come to court to support her son although they speak almost everyday from jail by phone. Among the information we found about the accident was the records of where he purchased his light green 2004 Buick Le Sabre he purchased from Car-Mart. This is a high interest “buy here, pay here” car lot that caters to buyers with credit problems. They purchased the car from an auction where an individual had defaulted on a title pawn agreement owned by Tennessee Title Loans, Inc. More on that aspect later. This happens to be my experience, but similar proceedings go on every day in courtrooms all across America and they all seem to have the same social class dynamics at play. Social stratification within the prison system is another compelling example of how inequality manifests itself in social class in America. In this case the driver agreed to a plea deal that requires him to serve between 8:00 and 12 years for the crime by law and his sentence will be 10 years at 30% minus time served. This means he will be eligible for parole in approximately 2 more years. The question then becomes how will the social class implications affect his ability to be granted parole? Additional questions I would like to explore are: Where will the District Attorney be then, where will the judge be, where will I be, and as a country, will we be making progress toward or away from equality with regard to social class? Furthermore, does one's social class set them on a trajectory from which they cannot easily escape? What steps should one take to move into the social class that they desire?

Social Class How Does It Work?

Social Stratification in the United States

John Green speaks on the American dream and social stratification.

Status Anxiety

On Consumption and Status Anxiety

I like this YouTube channel so much I am including another video that only tangentially related to this topic. It is a great reminder that many of our choices are half chance and you shouldn't be too hard on yourself when you make a mistake. Do people of different classes have varying attitudes toward this? Are they taught to think different things about mistakes from a young age?

The New York Times: What Does It Mean to ‘Look Like Me’? by Kwame Anthony Appiah

Social Class in America (1957)

Social Class in America (1957)

This 1950's educational video is surprisingly relevant to the structure of the social class system today.

Crash Course Sociology

Social Stratification: Crash Course Sociology #21

Why is there Social Stratification?: Crash Course Sociology #22

Social Stratification in the US: Crash Course Sociology #23

Social Class & Poverty in the US: Crash Course Sociology #24

The Impacts of Social Class: Crash Course Sociology #25

Social Mobility: Crash Course Sociology #26

These Crash Course Sociology videos (Numbers 21-26 of the series) are a superb resource for students learning about social class in the United States. 

Class : A Guide Through the American Status System, by Paul Fussell

Class: A Guide Through the American Status System

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, by David Brooks

Bobos in Paradise

The New York Times: Crossing Class Lines

Crossing Class Lines (Click to open)

This is an interesting article about how focusing on shared characteristics promotes cross-class interaction. 

People Like Us - Social Class in America

I chose this PBS documentary as a starting point in my exploration of social class.

People Like Us (1999)

(Available on Kanopy)

This documentary examines class in American society. The content is strikingly relevant to the discussions on social class that are still ongoing even though the film is now twenty years old.

As the thesis of the film asks, "It's the 800-pound gorilla in American life that most Americans don't think about: how do income, family background, education, attitudes, aspirations, and even appearance mark someone as a member of a particular social class?"

Within the first ten minutes of this two-hour film, the audience is faced with the stark reality of the American social class system and the vast disparity between the "haves" and the "have nots."

People on the street and in shopping malls are asked to look at photographs of people and rate the perceived class of the subjects. Later, other respondents are asked which class they identify with and the overwhelming majority choose the middle class. This is really no surprise since most Americans feel that they live a middle-class lifestyle and haven't examined the data about where their place is along the income curve.

Income is what most consider the main determinant of class in America. However, there are many other factors that determine what class you are part of.  As discussed in the film, the amount of white bread that you consume is an indicator of which class you are part of. On average, people who consume more white bread are at the lower end of the class spectrum.

This film examines people at both the top and bottom of American society as well as the working class and the middle class.

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. This project is my Capstone Project to fulfill the requirements of the Master of Liberal Arts degree at Middle Tennessee State University. I am excited to begin posting new content that I hope you will find interesting, useful, inspiring, or informative.

I will be examining topics related to the liberal arts through the lens of social class. Throughout my education in the MALA (Master of Liberal Arts) program, I have been exposed to many academic disciplines and how they relate to the notion of community. One constant within my study of "community" was the necessity for people to cooperate to achieve common goals. I find it interesting that communities and people belonging to them are often stratified into distinct social classes. I question how this can be productive, equitable, and conducive to progress. Therefore, my goal is to examine how people are arranged into different classes and how that impacts society. I plan to investigate the American notion of social class as well as how class structures exist globally. I seek to determine how people are included and excluded from social groups and the methods by which they transition from one to another.