Class Action

I recently came across a group, Class Action, that is dedicated to putting an end to classism.  While this may be unfeasible in many instances their heart is in the right place and they have many exciting ideas they have put into action.  Through the use of training, consulting, workshops, and other various forms of raising awareness they educate the community in beginning to see and understand classism so that they can work towards ending it.  They have 6 main goals in mind when educating others that I found on their website, classism.org, that I have listed below.

1. Help individuals develop class awareness
2. Explore intersections between race and class
3. Address class barriers and class privilege
4. Build bridges across the class divide
5. Assist institutions in becoming more equitable
6. Promote economic justice

Class Action has created an entire page entitled, Bring Class Action to You, that deals with raising awareness in your local community.  In order to begin to make a change and help those around us see the negative effects that classism has on society we must take a stance and start somewhere.  Please visit classism.org to learn more about how to start educating your community today.

Defining Classism

Classism is something we see all around us. But how do we define classism, or class for that matter?

Readings for Diversity and Social Justice defines class as:

"a relative social ranking based on income, wealth, education, status, and power" (Leondar-Wright and Yeskel 2007, 314).

It other words, class is a ranking given by society based on various socio-economic standards.

Merriam-Webster defines classism as:

"prejudice or discrimiation based on class" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/classism)

In other words, classism is discrimination based on these socio-economic societal rankings.

Readings for Diversity and Social Justice goes on to say that for many years, Americans didn't like to talk about class - it was somewhat of a taboo subject. But now, with the impending economic collapse and breakdown of American economic classes, it is no longer "subversive" to discuss class and economic status.

The purpose of this blog is to talk about class in a way that it hasn't been talked about - where do we see classism? Is there classism in education?

Over the course of the next several weeks we will unravel these questions and would like your input! Please feel free to comment, and in your comment let us know if you are a student (including grade level), parent, or educator.