Customer Reviews

What's Class Got to Do with It?: American Society in the Twenty-first Century

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This collection of essays addresses an often overlooked aspect of American culture: class. The introduction makes a good case that class is really more about power than money, but the other essays do not always pick up on this theme. The essays do cover a lot of ground, so consider it an introduction to the topic. Except for the last powerful essay by Barbara Jensen the authors of the book seem to be addressing an academic audience, and perhaps college students will get the most out of it. Jensen's essay is both personal and practical. She tells us what it's like for a working class woman in college to feel both the positive and negative effects of class. She opened the eyes of this middle class reader to see, without guilt, how the world can be viewed differently under the lens of class. Everyone, regardless of their class, has something to learn from this book.

I was very please with all aspects of my purchase. The book is one I needed for my academic studies.

"The long silence about class in the United States is finally coming to an end" (Zweig 1).

That assuming opening sentence deprived me of a text-to-self connection considering that, for the 41 years of my life as an unadulterated American, I've heard nothing but soak-the-rich rhetoric from politicians. Also, in my not-so-proud moments I have made digs about someone else's wealth which was, invariably, more than mine. Envy has, I shamefacedly admit, gotten the best of me in the past. I am sure it will best me in the future.

"Capitalists have their think tanks devoted to strategic matters, places like the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Brookings Institution" (15).

The above example of systrophe-the layering of definition-deficient descriptors-is repeated on page 123:

"Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Hudson Institute, the American Enterprise Institute, and the Manhattan Institute."

Funny, the Manhattan Institute's house organ, City Journal (CJ), is one of my favorite publications. CJ contributors include the seminal sociologist James Q. Wilson, whose Broken Windows Theory has had an incalculable influence on New York City's crime rate - currently the lowest since reliable stats have been kept. Now that's class.

"It is for this reason that capitalism is correctly described as an amoral system. There is no morality contained in it" (36).

The assertion that there is no morality in capitalism would certainly be news to Adam Smith, who demonstrated quite lucidly that the conscience of capitalism -- self-interest -- acts as the midwife for honesty and trust.

"[F]reedom is ultimately a matter of mutual care and social solidarity" (59).

Some would argue that freedom is a matter of rule of law. I am content with my family, however, for providing me with mutual care and with my friends for providing social solidarity.

"For the vast majority of minority and poor children there is a program known as 'Success for All,' which consists of drilling and repetition according to a down-to-the-minute schedule" (117).

Let me get some of that. I will use it on my subliterate 14-year-olds, who would only benefit from drills, i.e., doing the same thing over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over until they can competently read and write. I'd have them do it in uniforms too. All it takes is a "preoccupation with order," which Piven pointedly pooh-poohs (117).

Ultimately, what should be done?

"It must be transformative" (43). "[S]purn bourgeois selfishness" (48). "[D]ifferent mode of production" (63). "[C]ounterhegemonic class consciousness" (76).

Maybe next time I'm washing down my Big Mac with Coca-Cola on Queens Boulevard I'll bring up the subject of counterhegemonic class consciousness with-whoever these people are-"workers of color" (42).

Then again maybe I won't.