Class Diary #4

Recently we watched Richard Wolff in his documentary Captalism Hits the Fan, well two nights later he spoke at the National Day of Action at Occupy Boston at which I saw him. Below is a video of him speaking to a radio station about Capitalism, Americans, and the role of Occupy in the conversation on class and capitalism. It puts some of his arguments into a larger socio-political context, related to some of our class discussions.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8CO3t9bEwI

Class Diary #3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZP8qnR7bk0

I was putting together some music for Occupy Boston this week, and while searching Pete Seeger came across this video. It struck me for its visibility and transparency of Class. When was the last time that mainstream music talked about unions? As talked about in class, this language and clarity regarding an identity around Class has been forced aside and made invisibile. Pete Seeger has many many songs that talk about things related to unions, working class, working conditions etc. This example is just a staunch one.
Enjoy!

Class Diary #2

What a week! I have slept less than 20 hours, I have eaten and not even remembered eating, I have spent more hours on a train then on facebook and I couldnt be more jazzed. The above photos are from Occupy Boston;s Dewey Square camp where I have been for a week. In the context of our course material arguments about the intersection of class and other identities, and the invisibility of class have been rocked. The Occupy movement is not leaderless, it is a movement of leaders, and the conversation of class has become visible on signs, in chalk, on the news, in the policing of civil rights. Kevin said it best yesterday- we have already won in some way because we are on the table of the national dialogue. The statistics we have encountered in our readings, the conversations about tuition and the industrial complex applied to education based on age and not ability, on production over intellect, and the social and cultural capital reproduced to maintain class are all concerns of the 99% and the movement.

Assignment 10-4

Growing up in a town of upper and middle class predominantly white families, I saw first hand the impact of town funding on the educational experiences provided at the local schools. Whether it was the prevelence of after school activities, the consistant structural improvements, or the list of colleges attended by graduating seniors the results were clear. However, being a product of the then emerging culture of bullying in our k-12 schools, I attended 3 schools in 5 years, changing those schools 4 times. It is in this way that I was exposed to the varying degrees of both class and race experience in the classroom. The multitude of backgrounds as well as the ideological differences of catholic, private and public schools had this lens always changing for me. However, for me, Gorski struck home with his analysis of a student's basic need for survival regardless of desire to learn. If it is any testament to my love of education it is that I plan to make higher education my profession, thus requiring mass amounts of schooling. However, if it were not for my social capital, I would not only have dropped out but would also be dead. Social capital kept me connected to my studies as best as possible when the need to not be beaten up, or to find ways to eat while being blackmailed for my lunch and spending money was the more pressing issue.
Years later, in times like these when asked to reflect, it is only now that I am able to realize and name the tools which carried me through this period of my life. :)

Class Diary 1

Hey guys,
Heres a link I came across while making my way to Facebook... interesting invisible juxtapositions of age, sex, and class. Apparently you are a girl until 35, and since you expect to make 21% less (at least in the EU) you want a job thats fun and socially aware. Reproducing class? I think so.

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/09/30/girls-just-want-to-have-fun-until-theyre-35/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmaing10%7Cdl6%7Csec3_lnk1%7C100638

What if your bootstraps are broken?

This week in class, we aim to discuss whether class position and mobility are directly linked to indivual acheivement and self sufficency, or to institutionalized policy and structures. The author's of this week's readings all address this question in their own voices, using their own examples. However, Dalton struck me with one sentiment.

“If there is a genuine commitment to merit- based decision making it is possible that merit will out, but only for those that have the right kind of merit.” (306)

In his discussion regarding the myth of the ability of an individual to rise through the ranks of class based on their own merit and the judgement thereof, Dalton raises many important questions for the marginalized and oppressed populations.

What is merit? How do we define it? Who decides which merits are valued? How do these decisions effect other people? What is the role of personal biases and experiences? What is the role of individual anomalies(ie Colin Powell) in the greater culture conversation?

While I do not venture to say that I have all of the answers to these questions, there are certainly aspects I can try and dismantle. If I were to take the stance that class position and mobility were individual- then I would support at least in part, that one could pull themselves up by their own boot straps and make meaningful changes which would advance them up the class ladder. It would be their own work, their own savings, their own cultural and social capital, that would be their tools in designing their own success. But.. What if your bootstraps are broken?
It is not that an individual with broken bootstraps wants to advance any less then those with perfectly new "footwear". In fact, it could be argued that those with broken bootstraps want even more desparately to advance, for if they advance then they can have the money, and the job, to afford them new shoes and make their journeys easier. If we remain in this context, lets consider what if your boots are hand me downs? Or if your government, school, clothing company, no longer carries the bootstraps made for people like you(ie in your size) What is one to do then?
It is in this vein that I can only begin to question the role of systems and institutions in the role of individual advancement.
I find it narrow and ignorant to devisively paint class in this binary manner. On the whole I have made a life's purpose out of institutional frameworks. Though not mutually exclusive.
I dont think any of this weeks authors have comprehensively and successfully negotiated the two simultaneously. In that, an individual does hold a role within a system, such as an individual does have postition to make meaning of their class, participate in changes however small to the class system, and to negotiate their class or other identities to the best that they are able within the larger context. However, when we do not consider policy and procedure of systems, then we cannot adeptly address the questions that arise when one individual, with all the "right" merits is denied opportunities to advance simply by basis of an immutable characteristic. When one has reached the glass ceiling for those of their identities- who do we blame the glass ceiling on? When one has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to find themselves only at an iron clad sign of do not enter then what?

Whos streets? Our Streets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z5AyGANrRk&feature=share


Class has taken to the streets... literally WALL street- interestingly the mainstream media has yet to cover this protest despite mass arrests, police brutality allegations, and the macing of a penned in group of peaceful female protestors without provocation.
Class warfare? People will begin to see what it really looks like. Notice the signs connection racism, and the crowd of predominantly young college aged people. Hmmm...