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Bridging the class divide

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Classism in Progressive Movement Groups

Damaging Dishonesty

July 26, 2021 by Betsy Leondar-Wright 1 Comment

I guess you could call me a liar.  Back when I had fundraising responsibilities at several small nonprofit organizations, I lied to foundations all the time.  I assumed, often correctly, that funders wanted to believe that their money would directly bring about specific program impacts, so I told them it would. That meant hiding some […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Dismantlng Classism, Labor movement, Money, Women and Class Tagged With: low-wage jobs

The Nonprofit Inferiority Complex and Why We Need to Lose It Now

May 4, 2020 by Jonathan Spack Leave a Comment

Here’s a thought exercise you can use to test yourself for the dreaded Nonprofit Inferiority Complex, the internalized idea that nonprofit work is inherently less valuable than other forms of wage labor. How do you feel about the following statements with respect to community-based nonprofits?  1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = maybe; […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism, Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in social services, Classism in the Economy

Breaking the Silence about Class in One Liberal Denomination

May 1, 2018 by Class Action 1 Comment

In 2012, I was lucky enough to attend a remarkable weekend-long Class Action Train-the-Trainers mega-workshop. I did not attend to learn techniques to raise awareness about class and classism but instead to improve my skills as a trainer on the topic of communications and marketing. While the focus of the Class Action workshop was, of course, on social class […]

Filed Under: Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Religion and Class, Spirituality and Ending Classism, Systemic Classism, Teaching about class Tagged With: class awareness, class cultures, class inclusion, classism, low-wage jobs, middle class, owning class, poverty, privilege, working class

Four Ways Nonprofits Can Address the Classism Within

September 21, 2017 by Class Action 1 Comment

Several years ago, I was sitting in a diversity training of a nonprofit I helped manage. We’d spent the morning talking about inequality within the organization around the issues of race, sexual orientation, gender and even political leanings. All of a sudden tears began to roll down one woman’s face. Despite obviously trying to hold […]

Filed Under: Class cultures, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Dismantlng Classism Tagged With: classism, middle class, privilege, working class

Class Diversity Improves Your Nonprofit Board

September 21, 2017 by Larry Dansinger 1 Comment

Nonprofit organizations, which are legal entities that must be approved by state governments, allow people to join together and combine resources to achieve common goals. Most often nonprofits are started by people who are passionate about addressing social problems or responding to needs in their communities. So why do so many nonprofits fail to address […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class cultures, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Cross-class alliances Tagged With: middle class, owning class, poverty, working class

Was the International Women’s Day Strike Classist?

March 13, 2017 by Liz Padgett 2 Comments

What did you do for International Women’s Day? Did you strike? Well, I’m currently unemployed, and my partner has been supporting us while I’ve been more-or-less taking care of our home. We had a conversation in the morning about the kind of day-to-day work I do around the house, how a lot of it is unbalanced background […]

Filed Under: Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Cross-class alliances, Dealing with privilege Tagged With: community organizing, privilege

Five Classist Pitfalls to #Resist in Your Activism

February 13, 2017 by Davey Shlasko 4 Comments

In a moment of potentially revolutionary activism and mobilization, don’t let classism undermine your efforts. The past few weeks have been both terrifying and inspiring. In the midst of ascending totalitarianism and the drastic, likely unconstitutional roll-backs of basic rights, we are also seeing a swift mobilization from both new and established activists. Organizations and […]

Filed Under: Class prejudice, Classism in Politics, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Cross-class alliances, Dealing with privilege, Internalized classism, LGBT & Class, Politics and Class Tagged With: activism, class cultures, classism, community organizing, middle class, owning class, privilege, social movements, working class

Resistance Is Critical

January 19, 2017 by Betsy Leondar-Wright Leave a Comment

The election outcome was a shock – but wasn’t something new. Throughout U.S. history we’ve had waves of right-wing populism, when people bought into explanations of their economic hardships that scapegoat other marginalized groups and reject traditional elites. This election was a right-wing populist upsurge that few of us saw coming. We underestimated the number […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism in Politics, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups Tagged With: activism, classism, snobs, social movements, working class

Beyond Trump: Creating Class-Race Alliances

October 20, 2016 by Rahula Janowski 3 Comments

Part of the White, Working Class, and Worried about Trump (#WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump) Campaign*: I grew up in economically depressed, though beautiful, northeastern Vermont. My family was on and off welfare throughout my childhood, and we were always poor. As a child, I was acutely aware of the ways poverty set me apart from other people. As I […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Politics, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Cross-class alliances, Dismantlng Classism, Electoral politics, Institutional racism, Owning class, Politics and Class, Poverty, Race and Class Tagged With: #WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump, activism, classism, community organizing, owning class, poverty, racism, working class

Beyond Trump: Building a Coalition for Change

October 19, 2016 by Justin Stein Leave a Comment

Part of the White, Working Class, and Worried about Trump (#WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump) Campaign*: I grew up in South St. Louis City in a multi-racial, working-class neighborhood. My dad was a union carpenter, and my mom worked part-time at various jobs while maintaining the home. I’m the oldest of seven children. I remember the constant anxiety in our […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class cultures, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Politics, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Cross-class alliances, Dealing with privilege, Dismantlng Classism, Electoral politics, Politics and Class, Race and Class Tagged With: #WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump, activism, blaming the victim, classism, community organizing, privilege, race and class, racism, social movements, working class

Mother Jones in Philadelphia – 1903 and 2016?

July 25, 2016 by Maynard Seider Leave a Comment

I first met Cheri Honkala a couple of years ago at a Philadelphia protest against the Keystone XL Pipeline. Not knowing what she looked like, I had locked arms with her and two or three others trying to block an entrance to the Federal building. We managed to keep the door closed despite the first […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Dismantlng Classism, Electoral politics

Poor Little “Not-So-Rich” Girls

March 18, 2016 by Megan Marshall Leave a Comment

It wasn’t until I began to write about class from the perspective of the 19th century women about whom I’ve written two biographies that I realized how much issues of class lie at the heart of my attraction to these women. Class Action asked me to explore the constraints that even upper class white women […]

Filed Under: Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Gender Class Intersections, Women and Class Tagged With: class cultures, gender bias, privilege, race and class, racism, speaking up, women and class

Class and the Labor-Environmental Divide

October 15, 2014 by Chuck Collins Leave a Comment

How do we address the deep class and culture divide that has opened up between workers and environmental activists? We are heading to a potentially severe clash between green advocates who advocate for reducing carbon emissions and labor-community activists concerned about jobs, racial equity and reducing extreme wealth inequality. Both the climate crisis and the […]

Filed Under: Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Classism in the Economy, Environmental classism, Labor movement Tagged With: climate change, climate crisis, inequality, just transition

A surprising class culture pattern

March 12, 2014 by Betsy Leondar-Wright Leave a Comment

When I was studying 25 social justice groups for Missing Class, one of my biggest surprises was a class category I hadn’t even thought to look for: lower professionals. Activists of that class had such unique ways of speaking, participating, and especially dealing with conflict that they had a notable impact on their groups. By […]

Filed Under: Class cultures, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups Tagged With: activism, class cultures, social movements, speaking up

Climate Justice Work Must Include Marginalized People

July 22, 2013 by Cheryl Distaso 9 Comments

Late last year, I attended a 350.org divestment rally for climate justice at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Although the organizers made no claims to work intersectionally, and made no promise cross-class organizing, I left feeling deflated and angry at what seemed to be an effort to pander to wealthy white men at the […]

Filed Under: Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Environmental classism, Gender Class Intersections, Race and Class Tagged With: classism, climate change, environmental racism, environmentalists, intersectionality, race and class, racism, sexism, social movements

A classist comment from a feminist publisher

May 7, 2013 by Fisher Lavell 3 Comments

I wrote a paper on the classism I experienced as a poverty-class single mother in the feminist movement, and it was selected for inclusion in a prestigious anthology. When I asked the editor about payment for my chapter, she said that all proceeds from book sales would be contributed to a charity. “None of our […]

Filed Under: Classism in Diversity Work, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Gender Class Intersections, Money Tagged With: academia, classism

Aging in Place: Junk Cars in Economically Diverse Neighborhoods

May 3, 2013 by Susan Naimark 3 Comments

“We’ve got to get those junk cars out of people’s yards!” This was the challenge raised by a roomful of community organizers in a course I recently taught. The majority worked in community-based organizations focused on improving low-income neighborhoods. My course was an advanced seminar on values conflicts in community organizing. The junk car conflict […]

Filed Under: Class cultures, Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Cross-class alliances Tagged With: cars, community organizing

Roadblocks and Detours: Classism En Route to Drivers Ed

May 3, 2013 by Nicole Braun 9 Comments

I was shocked when a well-known environmentalist criticized my students’ campaign to make drivers education accessible to low-income students. The campaign ran into a lot of classism, but that was the low point. When I was in high school, drivers training was part of the public school curriculum.  Obtaining one’s drivers permit and license were […]

Filed Under: Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in K-12 Education, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups Tagged With: academia, classism, environmentalists, organizing

Classism Exposed: Contradictions on the left

December 9, 2012 by Lena Rothman 4 Comments

One of my pet peeves on The Left or other Progressive organizations is that when asking for donations, PLEASE tell me WHY it is okay to reward those that have more money by giving gifts according to how much is given? I understand totally that the money is needed, even deserved, but honestly it irks […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups

Poverty and Disability: the Vicious Circle

February 21, 2012 by Linda Stout 2 Comments

I first started to look at disability as a class issue when 18 of our members from Piedmont Peace Project and I attended a national peace movement conference in Atlanta.  Six of us were disabled and three in wheelchairs, including me. No other group had visibly disabled people present, although I’m sure some hidden disabilities […]

Filed Under: Class and Disability, Classism in Progressive Movement Groups, Poverty Tagged With: debt, disability, health care, low-wage jobs, poverty

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