Thank You for Being on Time
A few months ago, I made an appointment at the low-income clinic to see their therapist. I was hoping to find someone to listen to... Read More
Why Do You Want to Be Poor?
Growing up poor on Long Island builds character. While trying to balance personal responsibilities with maintaining a GPA high enough to make myself a competitive... Read More
The Case for the Maximum Wage
For classist put-downs, a maximum wage just may be the ultimate antidote. How raw can class contempt get? Take a look at the venom that... Read More
Breaking the Silence about Class in One Liberal Denomination
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... Read More
Social Class, Equality at Heart of International Women’s Day
There are countless reasons that people around the world celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). The day provides a focus and opportunity to celebrate women’s contributions to society,... Read More
Mirroring Administrative Attitudes: One Year Into Trump’s Rhetoric
Kalkaska, or Trout Town USA, is a picturesque northern Michigan town touting a population of just over 2,000. Located in the snow belt with its... Read More
Trump Supporters: Why Our Attitude Towards Them Matters
Not Stupid. Not Crazy. Those are the two most important things for progressives to remember about rightwing people, says Chip Berlet. He has tracked U.S.... Read More
Trump One Year Later: Most of Us Live in Dread
I had a discussion with my doctor late spring 2017. I was having gastrointestinal issues, and I said to him that I kept wondering whether... Read More
Trump’s First Year: Did the Working-Class Benefit?
Donald Trump ran for president on a populist and inclusionary platform. As he campaigned across the country, he appealed to increasingly larger numbers of Americans... Read More
“Homeless People Not Wanted Here”
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... Read More
Cross Class Dialogue Circle
It was on a bulletin at a local coffee shop, Cross Class Dialogue Circle. What did those words mean? Cross made me think of the... Read More
Cross-Class Alliances: Silicon Valley
On Labor Day, I thought, what better way to celebrate than to show up for cross-class picketing at a local McDonald’s? The first thing I... Read More
Homeless Shelters as Band-Aids: Housing Is a Human Right
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... Read More
Environmental Classism/Racism and the Sides of Human Rights
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... Read More
Classism In Spanish Society
I moved from Boston to Madrid 10 months ago. Among the barrage of cultural differences and neoliberal similarities between my home country and my adopted... Read More
Class Background and Life Choices
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... Read More
Four Ways Nonprofits Can Address the Classism Within
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... Read More
Reader Feedback on Classism Exposed
More than 100 people responded to the summer 2017 Classism Exposed 5-Minute Survey. The responses were as diverse as the people who responded, as evidenced by... Read More
Is Elvis-Hating Classist?
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... Read More
Trump’s Presidency: What We Deserve
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... Read More
Assimilation and the First Generation College Student
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... Read More
Living “Relatively Visible”
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.... Read More
Class in Crisis
Usually when I sit down to write out my thoughts on a political event, I write because I want to express an idea to resolve an... Read More
Spring Break?
When I think of spring break, I think of MTV and early 20-somethings soaking up the sun. I believe that this ideal spring break is becoming... Read More
Classism in Literature: Poor Boy Syndrome
In the song “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Freddy Mercury sings, “I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy.” He’s right, you don’t. Yet, it seems that... Read More
The Gig Economy and The Creative
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,... Read More
Five Classist Pitfalls to #Resist in Your Activism
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.... Read More
Witness Web
A group of members – currently 20 and growing – at First Parish in Framingham Unitarian Universalist is going to be staying abreast of various issues... Read More
Resistance Is Critical
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... Read More
Politics of Work, Socioeconomics, and Classism in Classrooms:
Education to Work to Live or Live to Work? I am a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Dhaka, Bangladesh, so I could make it big... Read More
Building Bridges, Not Walls
Class Action was founded by visionaries who realized that they had grown up at different ends of the class spectrum, but who had arrived in... Read More
5 Class-Based Microaggressions
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.... Read More
Beyond Trump: Creating Class-Race Alliances
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... Read More
Beyond Trump: Donald Trump Needs Our Racism
Part of the White, Working Class, and Worried about Trump (#WhiteWorkingClassVsTrump) Campaign*: Throughout the 2016 election cycle, the U.S. electorate has subjected to overt and systemic racism... Read More
Beyond Trump: Building a Coalition for Change
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... Read More
Risk Telling the Truth
I thought I was going to be a career teacher. But after a decade, I hit bottom. Teaching in inner-city schools, I saw the barriers... Read More
Systematic Failure: A Recipe for Self-Doubt
What does it mean when our education system, “The Great Equalizer,” turns low-income dreamers into third-generation self-doubters? When a high-quality education system is built only... Read More
The Sound of Class
The final days of summer always remind me of the time I left home for college. In an instant I can recall what I felt... Read More
Vacationing Broke
Being poor can feel like you’re stuck, and when everyone you know disappears into the world when they have the chance, you realize how truly... Read More
All Bodies Are Beach Bodies
Each year, as the chill of winter is thrown off by the warmth of spring and summer, we are inundated with advertisements on television or... Read More
Brexit: Race and Class
I had very mixed emotions about the Brexit vote. Having watched the manner in which the European Union strangled Greece, I have not been very... Read More
Juneteenth: Winner Take All
A January 2016 survey by YouGov.com revealed that the majority of white Americans view African Americans as takers vs. givers by a significant margin, 50%... Read More
Finding My Place in Academia as a First-Gen
As the first in my family to attend college and to go on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees, I have definitely struggled to find... Read More
Surviving Rape and then
Surviving the Burden of Class Bias
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Here Class Action’s Annie Hamilton writes about the benefit of not actually “seeing” rape survivors, so she and other people... Read More
Class Inequality in Children’s Movies
A new study, Benign Inequality: Frames of Poverty and Social Class Inequality in Children’s Movies, from Duke University sociologist Jesse Streib reveals that almost universally G-rated movies... Read More
At What Price Common Core?
In the Kindergarten Classroom For decades, five-year-olds have been entering kindergarten with varying levels of academic proficiency. Some might be able to read. Others may... Read More
Mental Health Diagnoses
Through a Classist Lens
Many people believe that you’re born with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). As a person who has been diagnosed with ADHD myself and treated with Ritalin... Read More
Work It, Girl
Sister, I see you. I see you, with your shitty paycheck I see you, with your kids, your bills, your debt, your dreams I see... Read More
African Americans and Classism:
It’s Complicated When I started this post, I thought it would be a straight-forward musing on classism on and in African-American communities. A few minutes in, and... Read More
Walk a Mile
They are phrases we’ve all heard a million times and show up in comments on social media: “If you’re on food stamps you don’t belong... Read More