Daily “Reflection Questions” (for students absent on Mon, Feb 27th)
Classism/Economic Justice Unit – Lesson Two
due by Fri, March 3rd
(Note: Spring break begins after classes on Friday. I’m making this Friday the due date, in order to
encourage you to complete these questions before brea4k.
But if that doesn’t work for you, I’m very comfortable with you extending the due date to Tues, March
14th, so that you don’t have to work on it during the break
Please work on it in a way that’s “meaningful” and “manageable” for you.)
Introduction to this Lesson: You may recall from the Course Syllabus that the course involves an exploration
of several different “ism’s”.
We are now in the unit on the issue of “classism” – and of a vision of “economic justice”.
Learning Activity #1: An Introductory Perspective
Consider the following saying:
“If you walk up to a lake and see one fish belly up,
you ask, ‘What is wrong with that fish?’
If you walk up to that same lake and see 100 fish belly up,
you ask, ‘What is wrong with the lake?'” (Pastor Richard Sheats)
One message that is often promoted in the US society is that “as long as a person works hard and makes good
choices, they will become increasingly economically successful” – and that “if someone is not economically
successful, it must be because they are lazy and/or make bad choices”.
In the words of the saying above, about the fish and the lake, that would be like asking, “What’s wrong with
those people who are suffering economically?”
But the saying above challenges that question. The saying above says that the question we need to ask is
“What’s wrong with the environment, the systems, of our US society?”
Note: there is no “Reflection Question” related to this Learning Activity
Learning Activity #2: An image of the division of income and wealth in the USThis activity looks at how much wealth the members of each of these socio-economic classes in the US has.
The staff and producers of the CBS Morning Show used the image of the slices of a pie to illustrate how the
wealth in the US is divided.
Paste the following link into your web browser to view what they did to make viewers more aware of this
division:
Watch the first three minutes of this YouTube video
Note: the “Reflection Question” related to this Learning Activity is posted below Learning Activity #3
Learning Activity #3: A map — another image of the division of income and wealth in the US
https://www.psc-cuny.org/clarion/december-2011/wealth-wages-and-inequality-pictures
Reflection Question: Reflecting on Wealth Inequality in the USWhat is your reaction to the video in Learning Activity #2, and the “map” in Learning Activity #3? What
thoughts, feelings, and/or questions do this video and this “map” create in you? (10 lines minimum – 12-point
font)
Learning Activity #4 – Part One: Some terms and definitions about “socio-economic class”
To understand the meaning and dynamics of “classism”, it is necessary to have an understanding about how the
concept of “socio-economic class” is understood in our (US) society.
The handout entitled “Working Definitions of ‘Class’ in the US” contains a helpful set of definitions.
Open the handout, and read through its descriptions and definitions.
Learning Activity #4 — Part Two: Exploring how the concept of “socio-economic class” relates to your
life experience
I suspect that as you read through the “Working Definitions of ‘Class’ in the United States” handout above, you
reflected on which of the definitions related in some way to your own life experience.
In the handout entitled “Where Are You in the Class System?”, Paul Kivel offers a more extensive list of
questions to support the reader in exploring which socio-economic class(es) describe your past – and your
present – life experience.
He believes that “one way the [owning] class keeps [the rest of] us divided and fearful is through:
the social silence [i.e. the lack of open conversations] about class differences,
the illusion that we are all just middle class.”
Open the handout, and read through its “Introduction”.
Then read through each set of questions, and think about how you would answer them – both as they relate to
your past experiences, and as they relate to your present situation.
Notice that the final paragraphs of the handout offer some perspectives on ways in which a person’s socio-
economic class intersects with a person’s race and gender.
Learning Activity #4 – Part Three: What information/perspectives about socio-economic class could you
share with others?Paul Kivel, the author of the handout, believes that, if we want to work for economic justice, it’s important to be
able to talk with one another about:
the meaning of “class” (the handout for Part One)
our experiences of “class” (the handout for Part Two)
Imagine having the opportunity to visit with some people in your life (e.g. family members, friends, co-workers,
people in a religious faith community to which you may belong) about “what socio-economic class means” and
about how it relates to “your personal experiences with socio-economic class”.
Question: Write at least two messages, in your own words, based on those two handouts that you can imagine
sharing with others in your life. (5 lines minimum for each message)
Message #1
Message #2
Learning Activity #5: (Beginning to) explore the Causes of Wealth Inequality in the US
Learning Activity #2 and Learning Activity #3 are designed to provide images of the inequality of wealth in the
US.
It’s one thing to say, “This is the way things are”.
It’s another thing to explore “The reasons why things are the way they are” – and that’s the focus on this
Learning Activity.
Open the handout entitled “The Image of a Monopoly Game”, and read through the explanation of the activity.
Question: What is your reaction to this “Monopoly Game” handout – what thoughts, feelings, and/or questions
does it cause in you? (5 lines minimum – 12 point font)Once you have completed all of the questions on the “Reflections Handout” for this Lesson, “Save” your
responses, and submit it to the (absent for Mon, Feb 27th) “Daily ‘Reflection Questions’ —
Classism/Economic Justice unit (Lesson Two)” folder in the “Assignments” section of D2L.
Where Are You In the Class System?
paulkivel.com/resource/where-are-you-in-the-class-system-2/
By Paul Kivel
Adapted from You Call This a Democracy?: Who Benefits, Who Pays, and Who Decides (2004, updated 2019)
Introduction: I think it is useful to consider where each of us falls in the economic system. Our class position
influences how we understand the system and it helps us all if we talk about how class works in our lives.
Otherwise it often becomes a barrier to our living or working together.
Take some time to locate yourself in [the socio-economic class system in the US], both in terms of your family
of origin (when you were growing up) and at the present time.
Use the following questions to help you think about the impact of class on your life and life opportunities. (The
questions are about the family you grew up in. Go through them a second time and ask them about your current
situation.)
These questions [can also] help you think about the impact of different economic, class, racial, and gender
factors that affect where you and your parents are in the [socio-economic class system in the US].
When you have thought through your answers to these questions (and any others that occur to you), [you can]
talk about your responses with your family, friends, [classmates], and co-workers.
One way the [owning] class keeps [the rest of] us divided and fearful is through the social silence over class
differences and the illusion that we are all just middle class.
1. Did/do you have enough food to eat? Were there times when you or other family members were hungry?
Where did your family shop? What was the basic diet? Did you eat out a lot? At what kind of places? Who
cooked your meals? Was there an abundance of foods? Lots of fancy foods? How did other people in the
urban/suburban/rural area you lived in eat?
2. What kind of housing did you live in? Did you have a stable home? Were you homeless? Who lived with
you—other relatives/another family? Did you rent your home? Did you ever have to move because your family
couldn’t pay the rent? Did your family own their own home? Did you have your own bedroom? Did your
family have a vacation place or second house? Did you feel comfortable in your house, proud of it, embarrassed
by it? How much of the family’s budget went towards housing expenses? Where in your area did people with
fancier homes live? Where were areas with poorer homes? Was your neighborhood racially diverse or was it
segregated? How did that affect the status of the neighborhood?
3. What kind of job(s) did your parent(s) or guardians have? How steady was the work? How safe? How many
hours did they work? Were there periods of involuntary unemployment? Was one income adequate for the
family? Were two? What kind of status was attached to their work? What kind of benefits? What level of
income did they bring home? Did the children of the family have to contribute financially to help make ends
meet? What could your family not afford on that income? Did your family go on vacations? Where did they go?
Did you go to summer camps or special programs? Did your family travel out- of-state? Out of the country?
4. Did your family have any accumulated wealth like stocks and bonds, property, a business, a farm? If so, what
opportunities did it provide for the family? How much wealth did the family possess? Did that increase or
decrease over your lifetime? Was your family in debt, or constantly worried about paying the bills? Were there
educational, employment, or housing opportunities that were not available because your family did not have
enough money to take advantage of them?5. What kind of education or educational opportunities did your parent(s) or other guardians have? How did
gender or race affect that? What kinds of jobs did their education (or lack of education) make available to them
or exclude them from? How did their race and gender affect that? Were they unable to pursue further education
because of financial circumstances? Where did you go to school? What was the class make-up of the school? Of
the surrounding schools? How were students tracked by class, race, and/or gender within your school? Where
were you tracked? What were the expectations of those around you about what you would do in your life? What
were the most visible career paths of those in your immediate family/extended family/neighborhood? Was any
higher education paid for by your parents or grandparents? Did you have to work to get through high school
and/or college? How much education were you able to get? Did you rely on scholarships? Did you take out
student loans to get through school?
6. What were the activities and behaviors that were signs of different classes in your neighborhood? How were
class differences in dress, language, values, background, appearance, or behavior manifested in your school?
How did they play out in interactions between adults? Between young people? Were you ever embarrassed by
your class background? Have you ever embarrassed others, or felt the embarrassment of others because of their
class background?
7. How was your [socio-economic] class represented on TV and in the movies? How were other classes? Who
were “representative” families or characters from different classes in the media?
8. Where did your family shop for food, clothes, and household goods? Did they buy “on-time” or on lay-away?
Did they postpone purchases until they could afford them? Did they have to pay attention to budgeting? How
was your family treated in stores based on how their class position was perceived? How did their race, gender,
and/or immigrant status affect how they were treated? Were they charged more because of their race, gender, or
immigrant status? Were there places they were not welcomed, or mistreated? Were there places they could not
afford?
9. Was your parent(s) or guardian(s) able to vote for candidates that represented their class interests? Did the
local, state, and federal policies that were passed generally support the prosperity and security of your family?
Were tax policies, transportation, environmental, educational, and health care policies generally to the
advantage or to the disadvantage of your family?
10. Did your family have health care coverage? Was it adequate? Was your family able to have regular medical,
dental, and eye checkups? Could your family afford glasses or orthodontic work/braces when needed? Did your
family forego or postpone needed medical treatment because they could not afford it? Was your family ever
disrespected or treated less well, or treated specially or given special attention because of their class, race,
gender, or immigrant status?
11. How did the police treat members of your family based on your family’s economic standing? How was that
influenced by race, gender, or immigrant status? Did your family look on the police as protecting them? As
working in their interests in the community? How was the treatment of your family by other professionals
affected by your family’s class standing? How did race, gender, or immigrant status affect their treatment?
12. How did you and your family spend their leisure time? Did your parent(s) or guardian(s) have leisure time?
Could they afford to buy you toys and games? What kinds of electronic items did you have in your house? What
kind did you want but could not afford? Was there money to go out to eat, go to the movies, or to pay for other
activities? Did your family go to fancy restaurants or eat out frequently? Could they afford expensive
entertainment such as concerts or plays? Did your family go on outings or trips? Did they travel by public
transportation, car, or plane? Did they stay overnight? Where did they stay? Did you have to work when going
to school? Did you get paid for doing chores or jobs for your parents? Did you receive an allowance? How
much was it? What did you spend it on? Were you given money on birthdays or other special occasions?Many people are from mixed class backgrounds or have changed class during their lifetime. Education, place of
residence, number of working adults, dependent adults, children in the family, and other factors influence one’s
class position.
[Some perspectives on how a person’s “socio-economic class” can intersect with the other social categories that
a person belongs to, such as their race or their gender.]
At every level [of socio-economic class], people of color, and white women have to work harder than white
men to earn the same amount because their wages are lower.
For example, a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that from 1979 to 2015, black men-and
even more so black women-the amount of hours worked [increased] at a faster rate than white men and women.
Yet the racial wage gap has actually widened, rather than narrowed.
Low-income black workers have increased their work load by 22% since 1979 (low-income black women have
increased theirs by 30%) in comparison to an increase of only 17% for white low-income workers.
Despite the jump in black employment, low-income white workers went from having a 3.6% income lead over
black workers to making 11.8% more than their black counterparts.
Where Are You In the Class System?
paulkivel.com/resource/where-are-you-in-the-class-system-2/
By Paul Kivel
Adapted from You Call This a Democracy?: Who Benefits, Who Pays, and Who Decides (2004, updated 2019)
Introduction: I think it is useful to consider where each of us falls in the economic system. Our class position
influences how we understand the system and it helps us all if we talk about how class works in our lives.
Otherwise it often becomes a barrier to our living or working together.
Take some time to locate yourself in [the socio-economic class system in the US], both in terms of your family
of origin (when you were growing up) and at the present time.
Use the following questions to help you think about the impact of class on your life and life opportunities. (The
questions are about the family you grew up in. Go through them a second time and ask them about your current
situation.)
These questions [can also] help you think about the impact of different economic, class, racial, and gender
factors that affect where you and your parents are in the [socio-economic class system in the US].
When you have thought through your answers to these questions (and any others that occur to you), [you can]
talk about your responses with your family, friends, [classmates], and co-workers.
One way the [owning] class keeps [the rest of] us divided and fearful is through the social silence over class
differences and the illusion that we are all just middle class.
1. Did/do you have enough food to eat? Were there times when you or other family members were hungry?
Where did your family shop? What was the basic diet? Did you eat out a lot? At what kind of places? Who
cooked your meals? Was there an abundance of foods? Lots of fancy foods? How did other people in the
urban/suburban/rural area you lived in eat?
2. What kind of housing did you live in? Did you have a stable home? Were you homeless? Who lived with
you—other relatives/another family? Did you rent your home? Did you ever have to move because your family
couldn’t pay the rent? Did your family own their own home? Did you have your own bedroom? Did your
family have a vacation place or second house? Did you feel comfortable in your house, proud of it, embarrassed
by it? How much of the family’s budget went towards housing expenses? Where in your area did people with
fancier homes live? Where were areas with poorer homes? Was your neighborhood racially diverse or was it
segregated? How did that affect the status of the neighborhood?
3. What kind of job(s) did your parent(s) or guardians have? How steady was the work? How safe? How many
hours did they work? Were there periods of involuntary unemployment? Was one income adequate for the
family? Were two? What kind of status was attached to their work? What kind of benefits? What level of
income did they bring home? Did the children of the family have to contribute financially to help make ends
meet? What could your family not afford on that income? Did your family go on vacations? Where did they go?
Did you go to summer camps or special programs? Did your family travel out- of-state? Out of the country?
4. Did your family have any accumulated wealth like stocks and bonds, property, a business, a farm? If so, what
opportunities did it provide for the family? How much wealth did the family possess? Did that increase or
decrease over your lifetime? Was your family in debt, or constantly worried about paying the bills? Were there
educational, employment, or housing opportunities that were not available because your family did not have
enough money to take advantage of them?5. What kind of education or educational opportunities did your parent(s) or other guardians have? How did
gender or race affect that? What kinds of jobs did their education (or lack of education) make available to them
or exclude them from? How did their race and gender affect that? Were they unable to pursue further education
because of financial circumstances? Where did you go to school? What was the class make-up of the school? Of
the surrounding schools? How were students tracked by class, race, and/or gender within your school? Where
were you tracked? What were the expectations of those around you about what you would do in your life? What
were the most visible career paths of those in your immediate family/extended family/neighborhood? Was any
higher education paid for by your parents or grandparents? Did you have to work to get through high school
and/or college? How much education were you able to get? Did you rely on scholarships? Did you take out
student loans to get through school?
6. What were the activities and behaviors that were signs of different classes in your neighborhood? How were
class differences in dress, language, values, background, appearance, or behavior manifested in your school?
How did they play out in interactions between adults? Between young people? Were you ever embarrassed by
your class background? Have you ever embarrassed others, or felt the embarrassment of others because of their
class background?
7. How was your [socio-economic] class represented on TV and in the movies? How were other classes? Who
were “representative” families or characters from different classes in the media?
8. Where did your family shop for food, clothes, and household goods? Did they buy “on-time” or on lay-away?
Did they postpone purchases until they could afford them? Did they have to pay attention to budgeting? How
was your family treated in stores based on how their class position was perceived? How did their race, gender,
and/or immigrant status affect how they were treated? Were they charged more because of their race, gender, or
immigrant status? Were there places they were not welcomed, or mistreated? Were there places they could not
afford?
9. Was your parent(s) or guardian(s) able to vote for candidates that represented their class interests? Did the
local, state, and federal policies that were passed generally support the prosperity and security of your family?
Were tax policies, transportation, environmental, educational, and health care policies generally to the
advantage or to the disadvantage of your family?
10. Did your family have health care coverage? Was it adequate? Was your family able to have regular medical,
dental, and eye checkups? Could your family afford glasses or orthodontic work/braces when needed? Did your
family forego or postpone needed medical treatment because they could not afford it? Was your family ever
disrespected or treated less well, or treated specially or given special attention because of their class, race,
gender, or immigrant status?
11. How did the police treat members of your family based on your family’s economic standing? How was that
influenced by race, gender, or immigrant status? Did your family look on the police as protecting them? As
working in their interests in the community? How was the treatment of your family by other professionals
affected by your family’s class standing? How did race, gender, or immigrant status affect their treatment?
12. How did you and your family spend their leisure time? Did your parent(s) or guardian(s) have leisure time?
Could they afford to buy you toys and games? What kinds of electronic items did you have in your house? What
kind did you want but could not afford? Was there money to go out to eat, go to the movies, or to pay for other
activities? Did your family go to fancy restaurants or eat out frequently? Could they afford expensive
entertainment such as concerts or plays? Did your family go on outings or trips? Did they travel by public
transportation, car, or plane? Did they stay overnight? Where did they stay? Did you have to work when going
to school? Did you get paid for doing chores or jobs for your parents? Did you receive an allowance? How
much was it? What did you spend it on? Were you given money on birthdays or other special occasions?Many people are from mixed class backgrounds or have changed class during their lifetime. Education, place of
residence, number of working adults, dependent adults, children in the family, and other factors influence one’s
class position.
[Some perspectives on how a person’s “socio-economic class” can intersect with the other social categories that
a person belongs to, such as their race or their gender.]
At every level [of socio-economic class], people of color, and white women have to work harder than white
men to earn the same amount because their wages are lower.
For example, a recent study by the Economic Policy Institute revealed that from 1979 to 2015, black men-and
even more so black women-the amount of hours worked [increased] at a faster rate than white men and women.
Yet the racial wage gap has actually widened, rather than narrowed.
Low-income black workers have increased their work load by 22% since 1979 (low-income black women have
increased theirs by 30%) in comparison to an increase of only 17% for white low-income workers.
Despite the jump in black employment, low-income white workers went from having a 3.6% income lead over
black workers to making 11.8% more than their black counterparts.
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