Poverty Constrains Your Wardrobe – and You
I will always remember December 2013. It was a particularly cold winter, and downtown Los Gatos was in the low 30s. My friend Jane rented... Read More
Weighing Every Cost: A Genteel Poverty
I am the youngest of 10 siblings. My dad built a successful plumbing business, bought his own shop and employed a few helpers at the... 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
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
The Prosperity Gospel and Classism
As a Christian and a formerly homeless person, I have seen how classism seems to run rampant in American Christianity. This is especially evident in... Read More
A Total Commitment to First Gen Students
Instead of a program located in one department, Mount Holyoke provides a dynamic, collaborative initiative focused on ensuring that the august institution is meeting the... Read More
B1GS: First Gen College Students
I am a sophomore at Rutgers University-Camden, studying psychology with a minor in childhood studies and social work. I am also – with great pride... Read More
Malnourishment: A Case Study on U.S. Food Insecurity
The final report of the 1996 World Food Summit states that food security “exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access... 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
Andy’s Story: Class and Homelessness
Before the year 2004, the word “classism” was not in my vocabulary. As a music teacher at a prestigious private elementary school and a private... Read More
Sexual Predators and Blue Collar Women
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,... 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
No Retreat in Confusion: Classism in Germany
When I talk about classism in Germany the common reactions range from an unknowing Never heard of it to a disbelieving and doubtful Do you really think classes... Read More
Missing Corner, Missing Choices
I recently participated in the Class Action workshop The Moment for Change: Exploring Class and Classism for Social Action. I learned a lot from the... Read More
Class Diversity Improves Your Nonprofit Board
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.... Read More
First-Generation Resistance in College
Being a first generation college or graduate student is already a difficult identity to navigate at a university, but even more difficult is attempting to... Read More
What Happens When Degrees Aren’t Enough?
Being a first generation college student often feels like being perpetually caught between two or more worlds. Many of us learn that we must... Read More
Trump’s War on the Poor, Working-Class and …
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... Read More
The Poverty Catch-22
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... Read More
Debbie Downer’s Spring Break
Spring break is coming up. That means hearing about Cancun and Barcelona while walking by students, seeing Airbnb and hotel tabs on 101 laptops, and... 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
Social Class and a Writing Conference
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... Read More
Safe, Affordable Housing Is a Human Right
On the morning of December 3rd, 2016, the deadly effects of the affordable housing crisis became clear. If housing were treated as a human right,... 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
The Demise of Neoliberalism
And What It Means to U.S. Communities The election of Donald Trump and the Bernie Sanders campaign made it clear that people are rejecting “business... 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
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
My Summers on the Cape
Working, Not “Summering,” on Martha’s Vineyard Summer rolling around means vacations for many. But for others it means seasonal migration to restaurant and hospitality work.... 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
When Skinny Isn’t So Cute
Growing up as the daughter of a farm worker, we often had dinners of biscuits and milk gravy. I always thought I was having a... Read More
Brexit – A Class Issue
Two weeks on, a lot of progressive people in Britain are still in deep shock or fury or despair – or alternating rapidly between all three... Read More
Choosing Not to Go Into Debt for College
Nicole Brown wrote the following after reading, and being so affected by, last month’s (May 2016) Classism Exposed blog post on the possibility that students are deciding not to... Read More
Avoiding Loans at Any Cost
Recently, community college students in a class taught by Classism Exposed contributor L.A. Kurth (see her note at the bottom of the post) responded to... Read More
When Pregnancy Is the Biggest Scare
Stephanie Jones, writing in Class Lives, says, “But poor girls are so strapped by their finances, we can’t imagine a pregnancy: the furniture needed, time... Read More
First in the Family: Social Mobility as a
First Generation College Student
As the first in my family to pursue a college degree, I have found challenges in navigating the privileges and isolation encompassed in the system... 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
Class, Money and Mental Health
When I was in high school, I knew something was wrong with me. There were many days where I felt like I had lost all... 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
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
Health Equity: What’s Working
We have lots of ways to measure what’s not working in the United States. We can quickly pull the latest numbers that track growing inequalities... Read More
The Port Cafe: Dining Without Classism
Imagine opening the door to a high-end, exclusive restaurant. The whoosh of air-conditioned comfort draws you in as the well-trained hostess welcomes you to the... Read More
We need more than holiday charity to reduce income inequality
The holidays are a time of joy for many. They are when families celebrate being together with loved ones, workplaces honor the accomplishments of employees,... Read More
Spare Some Change? Institutional Change Must Be Guided By Leadership Who Listen
Many years ago, I worked in a shelter that served chronically homeless women. My organization focused on supporting the rights and self-determination of our clients... Read More
How the non-homeless talk about homeless people
I knew it was bad, but I didn’t know it was this bad! I had a chance to ask over 500 people to write down... Read More
Broke vs. “Broke” vs. Broken
Nicole Brown’s blog post, “Broke vs. ‘Broke’,” explains one of the many ways class identity affects the college experience, especially in graduate school. Everyone I... Read More
Broke vs. “Broke”: Bothered by Humble Brags
This summer, I had a “stay-cation,” meaning I stayed put in DC where I moved last year to attend grad school. My “stay-cation” was awful,... Read More
Teacher sanctioned for challenging welfare stereotype
“Ladies, keep your legs crossed and your minds opened,” wrote a 58 year old undergraduate student who works in college admissions and recruitment in an... Read More
Class Inequality and Transgender Communities
Transgender issues have received more sympathetic media attention in the past few months than ever before. While so many people are paying attention to trans... Read More