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Bridging the class divide

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Classism

President Trump, One Year Later

January 29, 2018 by Josh Hoxie Leave a Comment

After 12 months that have felt like an eternity, Mr. Trump remains as greedy and volatile as ever. Donald Trump campaigned on the pledge to “Make America Great Again,” but he never did specify exactly who he wanted to make the country great for. After a year in office, we can deduce from his actions […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism in Politics, Classism in the Economy, Corporate power, Owning class, Politics and Class Tagged With: activism, bullying, owning class, privilege, super-rich, tax cuts

“Homeless People Not Wanted Here”

January 9, 2018 by Nicole Braun 3 Comments

They are all addicts, criminals, on drugs, mentally ill, dangerous and have made bad choices, unlike us.  That was the general sentiment of the people who showed up to protest a new homeless shelter in the community where I live. They might as well have put a sign out that read, Poor People Keep Out. […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism Tagged With: blaming the victim, classism, homeless, poverty, privilege, Rationalizing privilege, snobs

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s Statement Voted 2017 Most Classist Comment

December 31, 2017 by Class Action Leave a Comment

For Immediate Release: December 31, 2017 Contact: Anne Phillips, 617.477.8635; Denise Moorehead, 781.608.4608 BOSTON – For the eighth consecutive year, Class Action has asked people from across the United States to nominate and then vote for the Most Classist Comment of the year. With 35.7% of the vote, U.S. Senator Charles (Chuck) E. Grassley’s (R-Iowa) […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism in Politics, Doubting Class Exists, Electoral politics, Politics and Class Tagged With: blaming the victim, budget cuts, privilege, Rationalizing privilege, snobs, stereotypes, super-rich

Sexual Predators and Blue Collar Women

December 7, 2017 by Class Action 1 Comment

Finally. The manifestation of the recognition that women’s rights ARE human rights. That’s how I’ve been feeling about the outing of so many well-known sexual predators, long known but never punished for their predatory ways. Learning about some has broken my heart. Charlie Rose was my hero, as was John Conyers. But, like every woman I […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism, Gender Class Intersections, Owning class Tagged With: low-wage jobs, poverty, speaking up, working class

Homeless Shelters as Band-Aids: Housing Is a Human Right

December 7, 2017 by Nicole Braun Leave a Comment

From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Article 25: (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Affordable Housing, Building Economic Alternatives, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in social services, Classism in the Economy Tagged With: classism, homeless, owning class, poverty, public services

Environmental Classism/Racism and the Sides of Human Rights

December 6, 2017 by Sasha Adkins 3 Comments

On November 29th, Boston City Council unanimously passed a plastic bag ordinance that aims to reduce our reliance on disposable plastic bags. Stores will charge a 5-cent fee for each paper or sturdy plastic bag that they sell customers who come without a reusable bag. Despite eloquent statements by councilors Ayanna Pressley (at-large) and Tito […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in the Economy, Environmental classism, Poverty, Race and Class, Systemic Classism Tagged With: classism, corporations, environmentalists, low-wage jobs, poverty, race and class, racism, working class

Class Background and Life Choices

October 24, 2017 by Class Action Leave a Comment

For years, I defined class in the traditional way: Class is the relative social rank in terms of education, income, wealth, status/position and/or power. But more recently I have added the final phrase “life expectations/choices.” In the last two years I made a conscious decision to be, I hope temporarily, “downwardly mobile.” I have seen how […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Classism, Classism in Everyday Life, Your Stories Tagged With: classism, downward mobility, middle class, privilege, stereotypes

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

Is Elvis-Hating Classist?

August 15, 2017 by Lita Kurth 1 Comment

So much depends on whether you are looking up at Elvis from the working poor or working-class or down at him from the middle- and upper-class. When you look at photos of Elvis fans at his funeral or Graceland, they don’t usually look well-off. Their haircuts, clothes, whole demeanor suggest they came from the same […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class cultures, Class in the Media, Class prejudice, Internalized classism, Pop Culture Classism Tagged With: class cultures, classism, snobs, stereotypes, working class

Trump’s War on the Poor, Working-Class and …

June 29, 2017 by Class Action Leave a Comment

When explaining why his cabinet is filled with billionaires, President Donald Trump uttered what might just earn him Class Action’s 2017 Most Classist Comment of the Year Award. Mr. Trump said, “Somebody said why did you appoint a rich person to be in charge of the economy? No, it’s true. And … I said: ‘Because […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Politics, Classism in the Economy, Owning class, Politics and Class Tagged With: budget cuts, corporations, owning class, poverty, privilege, Rationalizing privilege, snobs, super-rich, tax cuts, working class

Trump’s Presidency: What We Deserve

June 29, 2017 by Gillian Mason Leave a Comment

Type “Trump voters deserve” into your search bar, and the two suggestions that pop up are “Trump voters deserve what they get” and “Trump voters deserve to lose healthcare.” To me, and I’d guess probably to you, this logic is completely unsurprising. In the Northeastern city where I live, we hear it every day – […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Building Economic Alternatives, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Politics, Classism in the Economy, Dismantlng Classism, Health care access, Owning class, Politics and Class, Poverty Tagged With: blaming the victim, budget cuts, classism, middle class, privilege, race and class, racism, snobs, stereotypes, super-rich, tax cuts, working class

Assimilation and the First Generation College Student

May 4, 2017 by Bobby Zaman 1 Comment

Going to college as a first generation student of color is more than just getting the money and applying for the right scholarships. It’s also about fitting in, trying to relate to your peers and constantly assimilating to a new culture. Money is only the first hill we must climb before hurtling over various mountains […]

Filed Under: Class cultures, Class in Higher Education, Class prejudice, Classism, First Generation College Students, Internalized classism Tagged With: academia, classism, education, first generation college students, snobs, stereotypes, working class

Living “Relatively Visible”

May 4, 2017 by Rathi R 2 Comments

I am born to a Tamil, working class, OBC (Other Backward Caste) couple who immigrated to North India to earn their livelihood in the mid-1980s. My father had begun working with an American cultural agency, a full-time job that he would continue to do for the next three decades. My mother, by default, stayed at […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Everyday Life, Institutional racism, Race and Class Tagged With: classism, immigrants, low-wage jobs, middle class, snobs, stereotypes, working class

The Poverty Catch-22

May 4, 2017 by Hazel Garcia Leave a Comment

The High Costs of Destitution Cause a Vicious Cycle Nothing is more infuriating than the ill-informed critique that “the haves” like to lob at “the have-nots.” Here’s a classic: “If you’re so poor and can’t afford to eat, then why are you overweight?” If you have ever been poor, you know the answer to that question […]

Filed Under: Class prejudice, Classism, Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in the Economy, Money, Poverty Tagged With: blaming the victim, money, poverty, working class

Social Class and a Writing Conference

March 2, 2017 by Lita Kurth Leave a Comment

Though not all writing conferences are expensive, many are. A number try, essentially, to take money from those who can afford it to subsidize those who can’t – a worthy policy.  But one still tends to meet more wealthy people than poor at a writing conference. Last summer, I attended one on the East Coast that […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class in Literature, Class prejudice, Classism, Pop Culture Classism Tagged With: poverty, privilege, snobs, working class

The Gig Economy and The Creative

February 13, 2017 by Christopher Page 2 Comments

A Perfect Match, Right? People with power tend to view gigs as hobbies, or sometimes lucrative endeavors in the “sharing economy.” Everybody knows Uber drivers, indies and consultants make a killing while controlling their own destinies, right? Yeah, as if. For 26 years I’ve depended on project work, “gigs,” for my employment and income source. I didn’t […]

Filed Under: Building Economic Alternatives, Class prejudice, Classism in Everyday Life, Classism in the Economy Tagged With: classism, debt, gig economy, low-wage jobs, money, snobs

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

5 Class-Based Microaggressions

November 22, 2016 by S.E. Fleenor 9 Comments

Microaggressions* have been a highly debated topic, particularly on college campuses. Some have suggested that the discussion of microaggressions, essentially, is making people overly sensitive. Others value labeling this subtle, persistent, often latent form of bias, expanding the discussion from solely conversations of race to include other areas of microaggression such as gender or sexuality. […]

Filed Under: A World Without Classism, Class prejudice, Classism in Everyday Life Tagged With: classism, Rationalizing privilege, snobs

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

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