Now that I have provided a clear background on the issue of classism as it plays out in American society, it is time to describe the steps I will take to combat classism from as many angles as I can. As previously mentioned, I feel that classism is such a prevalent issue that I cannot do much if I limit myself to one axis. Classism needs to dealt with at a personal, professional, and academic level in order to ensure I am doing everyone I can do promote change in our society.
From a personal level, I will discuss the realities of classism to as many people as I can, and I will work diligently to provide education to everyone I know by showing them this blog, as well as encouraging everyone I can to see for themselves how classism plays out in everyday life. Education is the first step to promoting change in any area of oppression, so informing as many people as I possibly can about the realities of classism will be a major part of my personal plan.
However, although my voice has power, personally talking to people I know and those I encounter is not enough to create change in our world. I will also have to incorporate my new-found knowledge into my professional life when I leave college. I am unsure what the future holds for me, but I know that I will not be able to put the issues of classism, or any other kind of oppression for that matter, in the back of my mind. For the rest of my life, I will work to promote multiculturalism and education about the history of the United States in the hope that people will understand the need for change once they are no longer ignorant about the realities we face today.
Until then, I plan on incorporating the issues of classism into my academic life as well. Taking this class has changed my outlook on life, and hopefully SWK225 will not part ways now that the semester is over. As we discussed in class, and in our Class Event, change begins with us, so I am hopeful our class will remain close and work together to promote change as a group. Also, I plan on getting involved in any way I can, as I have discussed with our wonderful professor, Dr. Michelle Cromwell, by becoming an ally for programs she is involved in, as well as other programs in the Boston area.
So, the biggest question is: what steps are required to promote change in our world?
Reading “Toward a New Vision: Race, Class, and Gender as Categories of Analysis and Connection” by Patricia Hill Collins was very helpful in helping me determine the best ways to accomplish the goals previously laid out . I didn’t include this reading in the Literature Review section because I thought it was more beneficial to discuss under the actual plan, since it is from Collins article that I have developed my plan. Just like in the literature review, I plan to point out salient parts of her article that relate to creating change in our world.
The above quote by Audre Lorde (see next post) is a wonderful place to start my action plan. Lorde is correct in saying that in order to promote change, one needs to bring out that “piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.”
In order to do so, Collins asks 2 questions:
- “First, how can we reconceptualize race, class and gender as categories of analysis?
- Second, how can we transcend the barriers created by our experiences with race, class and gender oppression in order to build the types of coalitions essential for social exchange?” (Collins, 1993, p. 721).
Answering the first question requires that we create “new visions of what oppression is; new categories of analysis that are inclusive of race, class, and gender as distinctive yet interlocking structures of oppression” (Collins, 1993, p. 721). This requires each of us to change our thinking about oppression so we can see the relationship between all axises of oppression.
This is so important in combating classism (or oppression in general) because since everyone has a “race/gender/class specific identity” it is essential to avoid thinking of individuals as “either/or” because it implies that “every individual must be classified as being either oppressed or not oppressed…and that some groups are more oppressed than others” (Collins, 1993, p. 721).
Collins discusses the need to ask new questions, such as:
- “How are relationships of domination and subordination structured and maintained in the American political economy?
- How do race, class and gender function as parallel and interlocking systems that shape the basic relationship of domination and subordination?” (Collins, 1993, p. 723).
Based on what I know about classism and oppression, and the information I’ve shared in this blog, these questions are salient points in discussing classism. Both asking and answering these questions are a part of my action plan on a personal, professional, and academic level.
In order to answer these questions, as well as the major question of how to reconceptualize the categories of analysis for oppression, Sandra Harding offers a useful model about gender oppression that can be modified to fit classism, and all other forms of oppression. Oppression, in general, “is structured along three main dimensions- the institutional, the symbolic and the individual” (Collins, 1993, p. 723). Through the course of this blog, and my semester in SWK225, we’ve discussed these dimensions at depth and how they relate to oppression, so to sum it up:
Institutional: “Systematic relationships of domination and subordination structured through social institutions such as schools, businesses, hospitals, the workplace and government agencies represent the institutional dimensions of oppression” (Collins, 1993, p. 723).
“A brief analysis of key American social institutions most controlled by elite white men should convince us of the interlocking nature of race, class and gender in structuring the institutional dimension of oppression. For example, if you are from an American college or university, is your campus a ‘modern plantation’?
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- Who controls your university’s political economy?
- Are elite white men overrepresented among the upper administrators and trustees controlling your university’s finances and policies?
- Are elite white men being joined by growing numbers of elite white women helpmates?
- Who are the support staff that produce the mass mailings, order the supplies, fix the leaky pipes?
- Do African Americans- Hispanics, or other people of color form the majority of the invisible workers who feed you, wash your dishes, and clean up your offices and libraries after everyone else has gone home?” (Collins, 1993, p. 725).
These questions are all very relevant to understanding how the different forms of oppression are intertwined. We’ve discussed institutional classism at depth, but hopefully this example puts it into perspective. Asking these questions at the personal, academic, and professional level are imperative to understanding the connection between institutional oppression in the context of its reality in our everyday lives.
Symbolic: “Widespread, societally sanctioned ideologies used to justify relations of domination and subordination comprise the symbolic dimension of oppression. Central to this process is the use of stereotypical or controlling images of diverse race, class and gender groups” (Collins, 1993, p. 725).
Collins uses the example of making a list of “masculine” and “feminine” characteristics in order to show how the either/or classification comes into play, and how the ideologies of our culture are structured to enforce these concepts. The symbolic dimension of class oppression can be seen in the same light, since one of Collins’ main goals is to illustrate the relationship between all forms of oppression that work together to maintain dominant/subordinate classifications. She stresses the importance of “assuming that everyone is affected differently by the same interlocking set of symbolic images (in order) to move forward toward new analyses” (Collins, 1993, p. 727).
Individual: “As a result of our institutional and symbolic statuses, all of our choices become political acts. Each of us must come to terms with the multiple ways in which race, class and gender as categories of analysis frame our individual biographies… I believe that each of us carries around the cumulative effect of our lives within multiple structures of oppression. If you want to see how much you have been affected by this whole thing, I ask you one simple question-
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- Who are your close friends?
- Who are the people with whom you can share your hopes, dreams, vulnerabilities, fears and victories?
- Do they look like you?” (Collins, 1993, p. 727).
Asking these questions about your close friends is also something I will ask people at the personal, professional and academic level during the course of my action plan. Together, the three main dimensions of class oppression can be seen as interlocking, intertwining, and heavily related to one another in terms of reinforcing the economic system in place today.
Answering the second question of “transcending barriers created by our experiences with race, class, and gender oppression in order to build the types of coalitions essential for social change” has three main components as well:
Differences in power and privilege: “First we must recognize that our differing experiences with oppression create problems in the relationships among us. Each of us lives within a system that vests us with varying levels of power and privilege… Differences in power constrain our ability to connect with one another even when we think we are engaged in dialogue across differences…Coming from a tradition where most relationships across difference are squarely rooted in relations of domination and subordination, we have much less experience relating to people as different but equal” (Collins, 1993, pp. 728-730).
Collins discusses the classroom as a potentially powerful place to discuss these differences in a safe atmosphere. Doing so will help “minimize those differences so that people of different levels of power can use race, class, and gender as categories of analysis in order to generate meaningful dialogues” (Collins, 1993, p. 730). This is exactly what happened over the course of this semester, and it was an eye-opening experience for me, as I hope it will be to others.
Coalitions around common causes: “Sharing a common cause assists individuals and groups in maintaining relationships that transcend their differences. Building effective coalitions involves struggling to hear one another and developing empathy for each other’s point of view…By learning to value each other’s commitment and by recognizing that we each had different skills that were essential to actualizing that commitment” (Collins, 1993, pp. 730-731).
This is exactly what happened over the course of the semester as a result of the class discussions about power and privilege and how each of us were effected differently by all the different axises of oppression. For our Class Event, our common cause binded us together, helping us show our audience what we’ve learned, and I know our experience was powerful. I am hoping to continue our SWK225 coalition as time goes on, as that is a very important aspect of my plan.
Building empathy: “Race, class and gender oppression form the structural backdrop against which we frame our relationships…but while we may not have created this situation, we are each responsible for making individual, personal choices concerning which elements of race, class, and gender oppression we will accept and which we will work to change. One essential component of this accountability involves developing empathy for the experiences of individuals and groups different than ourselves. Empathy begins with taking an interest in the facts of other peoples’ lives, both as individuals and as groups” (Collins, 1993, p. 731)
The most important part of building empathy is taking accountability; by speaking about these issues we are ultimately going to find connections in others that surpass our differences.
Transcending the barriers to discuss our differences, find common causes, and build empathy is difficult on either end of the spectrum:
“In order for those of you who are white to develop empathy for the experiences of people of color, you must grapple with how your white skin has privileged you. This is difficult to do, because it not only entails the intellectual process of seeing how whiteness is elevated in institutions and symbols, but it also involves the often painful process of seeing how your whiteness has shaped your personal biography” (Collins, 1993, p. 732).
“Building empathy for the subordinate side of privilege is also difficult, but for different reasons. Members of subordinate groups are understandably reluctant to abandon a basic mistrust of members of powerful groups because this basic mistrust has traditionally been central to their survival” (Collins, 1993, p. 732).
Both groups need to work toward replacing stereotypes and ideologies that form judgments based on classification with a different outlook about the other side of the spectrum- how you benefit or lose out because of one another. The main goal of this action plan is to overcome the boundaries created by institutional, symbolic, and individual levels and replacing them with the sort of powerful discussion we experienced in SWK225, that creates common causes and empathy of everyone’s differences on all axises of oppression, not just classism.
