Classism For Dimwits [Paperback]

Jacqueline S Homan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2008

"Political and social critic and author Jacqueline S. Homan gives an eye-opening account of the brutal life of poverty on America's margins from firsthand experience in a class-biased society that hates the underclass it created.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

While welfare and subsidized housing was cut for the poor, spending for incarceration burgeoned. Public spending for the prison industry went from $33 billion in 1990 to $216 billion in 2010, an increase of 660%. The largest increase in incarceration rates for the poor happened under Clinton's watch when "welfare as we know it" ended. During the 1990's the federal corrections budget increased by $19 billion while the federal budget for subsidized housing under HUD was slashed by $17 billion.[1] A nation that discards its poor to "balance the budget" for more money than it costs to help the poor does not practice the "personal responsibility" it preaches. Our society really hates the poor and will spend money to destroy the poor before spending that same amount to help the poor. This was done in the name of "law and order" as poverty itself was criminalized.

[1] James Carroll, "The Prison Boom Comes Home to Roost", The Boston Globe, November 8th 2010

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 370 pages
• Publisher: Elf Books; 2nd edition (February 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981567916
• ISBN-13: 978-0981567914
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,909,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacqueline S. Homan (1967 - ) was born in Philadelphia, PA into chronic, generational poverty. Orphaned and homeless at 13, she struggled to survive in America's permanent underclass. She graduated from college with a Bachelor's degree in mathematics as a non-traditional aged student at the age of 34 -- the very first in her family to graduate from high school and college. Her speaking engagements include the October 2009 international human rights conference in London, UK.

Her first book, Classism For Dimwits, is a social and political critique that shatters the myth of the American Dream and exposes America's ugliest secret: Middle and upper class American's cruelty towards (and utter hatred for) the poorest of the poor in America who can't just "bootstrap" their way onto the lowest rung of middle classdom without a real safety net.

After Classism For Dimwits, she authored and published three more nonfiction books centering on contemporary social justice issues: Eyes of a Monster, Nothing You Can Possess, and her most recent and most provocative, Divine Right: The Truth is a Lie.

She is also involved with CAUS (Citizens Against Utility Shut-offs) and various other poor people's human rights campaigns.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Classism made personal... March 21, 2008

By Michael J. Mcfadden

Format:Paperback

Jacqueline S. Homan produces a seamless blend of first person perspective on what it like to grow up on the lower rungs of America's class ladder and a wider social consciousness about class issues in general.

People who have had the good fortune of being raised in a stable family environment in even the lower levels of America's middle class have a hard time understanding what it's like to have spent a lifetime on the edge... an edge where no matter how hard you try, the steps that you manage to climb can suddenly be yanked out from under you by happenstance with no safety net available to fall into. And of course, once you DO fall without that net you land in a pit so deep that even years of hard work stand little chance of pulling you back up.

Middle and upper class kids can goof off and still trust that eventually Mom and Dad will see to it that they not only have a roof over their heads but will have at least several chances at a good education and good jobs. Talent and brains help of course, but they're not really necessary when you've got the right "start".

Take a kid whose family was not there for them, or who grew up within the welfare system, or who suffered borderline disabilities that were not adequate to qualify for aid but were more than adequate to get in the way of a scholarship or a good job, or any combination of even bits of the above in conjunction with a devastating illness or accident... and you have a life disaster that may never truly be "fixed".

Ms.... Homan poignantly offers cameos from her own life, images of being orphaned, of struggling against reading difficulties due to late-diagnosed dyslexia, of an accident that left her nearly paralyzed and unable to hold any job that requires extensive walking or standing (no burger-flipping safety basket available!), and widens these personal experiences to observations on how a largely unrecognized class system in "classless" America works to "keep people in their place" despite their often heroic efforts.

The title of the book is wonderfully appropriate: even "Dimwits" will have a greater appreciation for the reality of American Classism after reading this book! Read more ›

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone has an equal chance to succeed--yea, right. August 20, 2009

By Richard J. Goscicki

Format:Paperback

"Classism For Dimwits" is an important book. It should be part of every sociology class across the nation. The fact is the poor are underrepresented. They make up a significant part of the population but rarely a word is heard on their behalf. In the Healthcare Debate, for instance, where are the uninsured expounding their case? I hear only the haves telling us how expensive and socialistic caring for the poor will be.

Sure, "The Jungle" described what it's like as a poor immigrant from Lithuania in the Chicago packing houses. "The Grapes of Wrath" did a rousing job of portraying the adversities facing the dust bowl Oakies. The greatest of all, "The Complete Works of Charles Dickens," showed what it's like to be born poor in Industrial Revolution London.

There are many more examples of works explaining what it's like to be poor, but Sarah S. Homan gets down to the sociological nitty-gritty of why these despicable conditions exist. Ms. Homan describes how the rich cheated, connived and broke the rules to create intolerable prejudices against the poor. Dress codes, looksism, sexism, racism and other devious discriminations are the "haves" weapons against the "have-nots." The fact is that the playing field is in no way level. The playing field of who gets the money perpetually favors the rich.

Sarah gives unabashed and objective cases of how she was discriminated against time after time. Most of us would be ashamed to even admit we're poor, such are the social prejudices and mores. She tells the story of how a teacher brought her up in front of the class to humiliate her for not being able to afford a required $89 kit.... She tells the story of gas station attendants unwilling to sell her gas because her jalopy pick-up truck wasn't appropriate in that side of town. She tells the story of being dismissed from jobs because she didn't "look right."

What better way to get back one's oppressors than writing a book like "Classism?" What beautiful writing and analyses directed to those who called "slow" and "ineducable" because she was dyslectic. No violence, no vengeance, no animosity, just a book that describes what's right and wrong, a book that presents statistics and university studies that prove the system isn't fair.

The author of the "Jungle," Upton Sinclair, went on to be become a socialist candidate many times over but the rich made sure those any threat to their extreme wealth was oppressed.

I wonder how many judges would dole out harsh sentences in the penitentiary, if they did some hard time. I wonder how many prosecutors would be so uptight and law abiding, if they did lived in welfare for a while. I wonder how many rich people would be so intolerant of the poor, if they were raised in the ghetto.

"Classism For Dimwits" will change your worldview and open your understanding of all society. It urges and advocates the one ingredient society needs the most: compassion. Read more ›

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Broken Bootstrap July 4, 2008

By Floyd M. Orr VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Cla$$ism for Dimwits is an unusual, nonfiction book about poverty in America. Jacqueline S. Homan is a woman who has led an unfortunately difficult economic life and survived to tell us about it. Lacking the credentials of an economist or the questionable respectability of a talking head from television news, the author has attacked the issue with spunk and determination. She extols the virtues of authors such as Barbara Ehrenreich and Dr. Donna Beegle, while railing against the selfishly destructive policies of the Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush administrations. If you want to read about economic conditions in America from an Ivy League school perspective, pick up any one of the richly researched and documented treatises published by the big-league news people. If you want to see the trenches from the inside looking out, read Cla$$ism for Dimwits.

Unfortunately, certain elements of the execution of this long overdue concept are somewhat flawed. The word count of the book is far less than the page count implies due to excessive margins on each page. The price isn't too bad for a 200-page book, and by a normal comparison, that's about how many pages Cla$$ism for Dimwits contains. There are many missed opportunities for more inclusive documentation of the author's research than is present, and the typos are somewhat numerous, too. I am also a little concerned that many less than liberal left-wing readers will find Ms. Homan's tone a little too repetitive with complaints, and even the choice of title may be at least a wee bit insulting to prospective buyers and readers.

Aside from these issues, Cla$$ism for Dimwits is a book a lot of America needs to read.... It is explicit, concise, and to the point in the author's concerns over the methodical dismantling of the safety net for America's poor. Although many may question the validity of the issue, I was particularly impressed by the way Ms. Homan politely shoved most racial issues outside the structure of this book's subject matter. She did not make this choice to in any way denigrate the vast economic struggles of minorities in our society. She made this choice to highlight an all too often ignored reality, that a high percentage of people living below the poverty line in the U.S. are Caucasian, and they deserve a voice, too. A great number of these voices might also be right wing oriented, as well as somewhat narrow-minded, so it would be to their benefit to try to accept the author's point of view without clouding the issues, and their own minds, with a What's the Matter with Kansas smokescreen. Jacqueline Homan's poignant message is that all of America's poor are suffering from the bootstraps deliberately sliced in two by The Reagan Revolution. Read more ›