Class Action April 2006 Books of the Month! 

Classified and Strapped offer insight for youth across the class spectrum.

Karen Pittelman with Resource Generation

Illustrated by Molly Hein

(Soft Skull Press, 2006)

Karen Pittelman and Resource Generation have produced something that is best described– appropriately – as a resource. Classified is one part workbook, one part comic book, one part how-to guide, and one part annotated bibliography.  It compares itself to a choose-your-own adventure novel.  Intended for the use of young people with privilege, it invites readers to read casually.  Skipping around to find the parts that feel relevant is encouraged.  Its lighthearted, upfront style makes the broaching of a tough topic more comfortable: how to stop hiding privilege and use it for social change.

Classified offers new ways to think about cultural capital and access to resources, even before delving into any serious subject matter.  It begins by answering basic questions about definitions, such as what is meant by “young people with wealth” and “social change.”  It also briefly describes what it is that Resource Generation does.  Both the book and the organization aim to help those with privilege gain a deeper understanding of their advantaged position. Once privilege is better understood, it can be activated in ways that further the pursuit of social justice.

It is well known that people with resources are in a better position to change things than those with less privilege.  But a position that affords power-wielding is, of necessity, a poor vantage point from which to view destructive power dynamics at work in society.  Action without appreciation of these forces undermines participation.  For this reason, Resource Generation supports individuals with privilege in recognizing their own privilege and the ways that they might be unaware of the dynamics in cross class situations.  It engages them in conversation with one another, so that they may open up dialogues about their resources and connections.  People with privilege must challenge each other.

For far too long, it has been the responsibility of those with less privilege to point out their own disadvantaged state.  In innovative ways, Classified facilitates the reader’s coming-to-terms with the essential dilemmas of social change.  How is one to parse the needs of the disadvantaged, and take responsibility for the work to be done without imposing further demands on those already-oppressed? 

One place we can start is by doing simple exercises.  Some are co-opted from social change workshops; these are enormously helpful ways to visualize oneself taking the perspective of others.  “Social Change Star” is an imaginary Barbara Walters interview, in which the reader traces the origins of his or her vision of social change – and how having wealth has influenced that vision.  Women’s magazine-style quizzes add to the amusement factor, while posing some deeply probing questions about how we see ourselves behaving in certain situations, and what our behavior might say about our background.

Additional illuminating nudges toward insight are offered by exercises in which the reader identifies ways in which he or she is like other people with privilege.  Comic images illustrate the censorship to which many of us submit our experiences.  For example, many of us have a “classified file,” which is our life story – minus the markers of class privilege, which we selectively black out.  Other exercises ask the reader to go back some generations to research and fill in gaps in family lore.  Also featured are many personal, confessional-style accounts of how money, in the family, got made.  Some of our ancestors were slave traders; some simply weren’t as self-made as we once thought they were.  A “rags-to-riches” story is rarely the whole story.

We don’t tend to ask why successful people do well or receive preferential treatment.  Classified asks us to ask why.  Why do so many wealthy children graduate from high school?  Why don’t we hear rich people complaining about public services?  The short answer is that they are not exposed to the same lack of alternatives as those with less privilege.  While it does not insulate its holders from the ills of society, privilege grants access to choices and makes it easier to navigate in the world.  Access to financial resources affords options, safety nets, and leeway.  Other forms of privilege are written on our bodies; still others come as a consequence of where we live or who we know.  There are many kinds of privilege; the ones we have are usually the hardest to see.

Artist Molly Hein helps to drive home Pittelman’s point about the invisibility of privilege.  Her visuals contribute commentary that is both brief and incisive, such as the x-ray of the attractive job applicant.  We expect certain individuals to possess advantages afforded by privileged group membership.  Whereas discrimination erases individual identity, privilege erases group identity, blinding us to the reality of these advantages.  According to Pittelman, there is a downside if we don’t bring them to light, in that we miss out on the chance to better understand our experiences.  But – she emphasizes – we never have to do anything, because privileged livelihoods don’t depend on change. 

For those who dare to do something, the second part of Classified focuses on taking action.  A misstep to avoid is acting out Side Effects, which are unfortunate and unconscious manifestations of entitlement.  For instance, the Daddy Warbucks Effect is paying for other people without checking in with them.  The panacea for Side Effects is unwavering commitment to listening, supporting, and taking the lead from the less privileged.  When it comes to effective activism, half the battle is determining when it is appropriate to collaborate or play a supporting role – even and especially when it is our resources that are at stake. 

Toward the end, we hear some practical advice about socially responsible spending, investing, and giving.  People with privilege have control over what they buy and how they buy it.  It is important that they form a clear image of the principles they wish to support with their resources, both directly and indirectly.  Homework must be done.  Issues must be researched, and experts in the field consulted.  A philanthropic mission is a collaborative process.  Even before we begin to think about spending for social change, we need to get in touch with our fiscal selves, which is often a group activity.  Exercises such as the Money Action Plan help readers to identify questions they may need answered by others, including hired professionals. 

Only by answering these questions can we form an accurate picture of how much we have, how much we earn, how much we spend, what we must save, and what we can afford to give.  With the aid of a similar Action Plan, we also take stock of the resources at our disposal that defy dollar amounts.  Once we own up to all we have to give, we can join others with privilege in the dialogue about how best to put those resources to use for social change.  The roles of “donor” and “activist” are not mutually exclusive.  Classified provides helpful hints about how to bring actions into alignment with objectives.  It helps us figure out where we stand on issues, and where we stand in society, but it is up to us to fill in the blanks. 

Tamara Draut

Strapped: Why America's 20-and 30- Somethings Can’t Get Ahead 

(Doubleday, 2005)

“What’s the matter with today’s younger generation?” 

If you ever hear older folks start this riff –implying that today’s young adults can’t delay gratification, are quick to go into debt, and lack a work ethic –do them a favor and give them a copy of “Strapped.”  It exposes the “blame the youth” judgment as a form of cross-generational classism. 

“Strapped” is about the one-two punch facing young people as they struggle to move into financial adulthood.  The first punch is that it’s not your parent’s or grandparent’s economy that generated much more widely shared opportunity. The second punch is that government policies haven’t done anything to close the gap.  As Tamara Draut, a journalist and researcher at Demos, writes, “Government no longer has our back.”

Draut is clear that her focus is not on the experience of the very poor of any race.  Nor is it about the thin slice of young high-tech millionaires or those cushioned by inherited wealth.  Instead, “Strapped” zeroes in on the widely shared experience of working and middle class young adults of all races who find themselves deep in debt, permanently renting, stuck in paycheck paralysis, and unable to get off the down escalator of our unequal economy.

Draut puts the over-personalized economic struggles of many young adults into the framework of the changes in the US economy.  And she blames policy-makers for failing to “temper the harsh edges of the new rough and tumble economy,” as they did for previous generations.  For instance, at a time when higher education and training is essential to participate in the new economy, the “glory days” of financial aid have long passed. 

For over twenty years, as young adults are taking their first steps into the job market, real wages have remained stagnant or even fallen –and many new jobs are in the temporary workforce, without health insurance.  At the age when white people in the Post-World War II generation were purchasing homes with help from enormous government subsidies, the same level of assistance doesn’t exist today for younger adults who are also saddled with much higher levels of consumer and college debt. 

“Strapped” puts the whole seamy picture together in a well-researched and written generational analysis of the new economy.  But Draut goes further to explain the political retreat of young adults and suggest a program that would not only engage younger people in politics but would also substantially improve the economic security of those born after the baby boom.  This agenda includes making college affordable, creating good “high road” jobs, and “spread the wealth” programs to broaden access to savings and homeownership.  At its core, this program is about reversing the poisonous drift toward greater class inequality.

As Draut observes, “The stakes are high.  In thirty years, we could be known as either the generation that saved the American dream or the one that suffered silently through its demise.”

View previous Class Action Book of the Month selections...

March Book of the Month: Welfare Brat, A Memoir by Mary Childers

February Book of the Month: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

January Book of the Month: Invisible Privilege: A Memoir about Race, Class, and Gender by Paula Rothenberg

View last year's Book of the Month selections...

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