Customer Reviews

Where We Stand: Class Matters

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I recommend this book. This is the first bell hooks I have read, and was deeply impressed by her clear, rooted moral position on the state of American and global society. Her writing in this piece shifts from a narrative of her own history growing up in the South, to a present academic, political critique of today.
I found her writing fluid and her point of view significant. As a black woman in America and someone who has experienced lower and upper class existence and the according journey between them, her perspective is complex, making her voice deep and necessary.
In no way can I specify difference with this book. She calls for a morally just society, which denounces the consumerism that perpetuates exploitation, racism, sexism while it is advertised and fantasized about as a life pursuit. Seeing the current issue of Newsweek's cover story, titled "How to Win," regarding a CEO's expertise in making money and succeeding the "American way," immediately brought Where We Stand into consideration.
This book is a call to action, and an illumination of the depressing and unjust, cruel and foolish system which ignores and is afraid of reforming itself enough to allow for "a world where we can all have enough to live fully and well."
I particularly appreciated her chapters on living simply, and think it is an appropriate and bold call to make in a place where stuff and acquisition are social symbols of significance.
To conclude, I found this description of class from page 103, by Rita Mae Brown, to be important: "Class is much more than Marx's definition of relationship to the means of production. Class involves behavior, your basic assumptions, how you are taught to behave, what you expect from yourself and from others, your concept of a future, how you understand problems and solve them, how you think, feel, act."

Reading bell hooks, Where We Stand, was a challenge in itself. I had never thought of myself as being racist or having strong bias against any one group of people, but I did find myself getting angry with some of the things that she wrote about. I thought in the beginning that she painted a very sad harsh picture of her life growing up, and the trials she had to go through to get where she wanted to be. They were long and hard days, but she did get there. What I was most frustrated with was her repetitive nature. It was almost like she was going to make sure we GOT IT! I just think that when someone is on a soapbox about something they beat the subject matter into their audience's head until it is no longer interesting. I found myself becoming defensive about things. I got frustrated with her at times, but then I read on and began to see the injustices that were out there. Making it unfair in many different ways for blacks. I particularly felt strong about a chapter dealing with real estate, and how it is manipulated by "desirables" to keep "the undesirables" out. It is sad to think that you can put a dollar amount on the color of a person's skin. I felt ashamed at times, thinking the same things perhaps at one time or another. This reading has helped me grow as a person and it opened me up to the ways of the world. At least I hope that it has.

I suggest that everyone takes a look, it will be worth it.

bell hooks is ahead of the curve again. Class studies seems sure to supersede race and gender studies as the next big thing in academia (and thus, eventually, more widely--at least I hope so). Hooks writes wonderfully here and elsewhere about issues that most academics write about in prose that is certainly more difficult than necessary. As before, at least for me, she's at her best here when she writes about the details of her own life, her own growing class awareness. In doing so, she manages to show just how much American consciousness has changed regarding the poor and the rich, and especially, how individuals decide where they "stand" in relation to the two.

Getting rich has become the highest goal in America, even more so than it ever was, and the poor are more disregarded and even despised than ever. hooks reminds us (and, hopefully, the newly triumphant Christian right) that the Bible, and much traditional Christian teaching, holds the poor up, rather than the rich, as examples of how we all should live. A shift in perspective has gradually crept upon us--while Americans used to cite many features that constituted a "good life," loads of money has come to the fore as the defining tool toward living "well," and for many it seems to be the only thing that would make life better. hooks writes "movingly" (a cliche, but it's true) of how all these changes FEEL; she clarifies for me, for instance, the way the widening availability of gambling is making more and more of us dissatisfied with our current lives because they seem to pale so in comparison to the lives we "could" lead if we could just buy that right lottery ticket.

I could write much more encouraging you to read this book, but I'll end by applauding how fully hooks shows that class AND race AND gender continue to be factors that must be considered together if we are to make any progress toward narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor. Assuming we see such a gap, and even want to narrow it. With the increasingly meaner winds blowing, issues of class will probably get brushed aside even more roughly by the American fantasy of class mobility for ANYone willing and able to work for it--thank you, bell hooks, for standing up and talking back to that wind.

Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks


All books written by bell hooks are powerful, direct, and very brave. Exactly when I was hoping bell would write a book about class, I discovered this one. Her writings about love lead to exploration of capitalism and its social structure more in depth, to strengthen points about the ways class loyalties and antagonisms prevent love ethic from becoming embraced by the society as a whole.

What I especially appreciate in Where We Stand are the two quite extraordinary qualities: a) bell showed us that we can talk and write about class without using "post-modern" or difficult to comprehend terminology, and b) she is not afraid to call to action, to change this depressing and unjust, cruel and senseless system into "a world where we can all have enough to live fully and well."

She started the book with self-critique, almost apologizing for not having enough theoretical knowledge to talk about class issues. However, bell is able to discuss very different aspects of class, such as class ideology (or the dominant social ideology being the ideology of the ruling class), class consciousness of the working class and intellectuals, intersections of class, race and gender, crossing class boundaries, and a vision of a classless society--society--without class hierarchies or antagonistic classes.

I read somewhere that some book reviews called this book a "novel". Where We Stand is not a novel, but I prefer to see this as compliment. bell masterfully intertwined her personal experiences and her family stories into the general discussion about class. Her feminist methodology brings much needed approach and analysis of one indivisible social system that is at the same time patriarchal, capitalist/imperialist, and white supremacist on a global scale.

bell hooks is always brave and principled. Her integrity is intact as she writes about the most important issues of our time. In addition, we can witness that she lives according to her values. She is compassionate and openly declares her solidarity with the working class and all of the people that Marx called proletariat. bell chose to live on a smaller income, without security that institutions provide, and to live simply.
Not only are the topics that bell writes about revolutionary, but she herself lives as an intellectual capable of leading a revolutionary movement.

I expect some critics to say that all aspects of class are not explored in this book, nor are those discussed explored in depth. Some will be tempted to say that bell is using Marx's concepts and creating relatively new terminology, as would many say that Anthony Giddens (Capitalism and Modern Social Theory; Class, Power and Conflict) is very much influenced by Marx. I understand that this book is only her first step, an introduction to a number of explorations of class issues in the contemporary American society, as well as one of her first calls for unity and strong advocacy for abolition of class and all other hierarchies.

Considering much of hooks' social theory, I see most parallels with Erich Fromm's work. Fromm wrote about "productive love" and "productive work", but he was also a very sharp critic of capitalism, exploitation, and alienation from our basic human needs, arguing for "productive humanistic communitarian socialism". Very much influenced by Marx, Fromm's theory of class also focuses on raising individual, group, and social conciseness in order to change the society into a future form that would allow us "to be" instead of "to have" and fulfill our basic human needs.

In terms of style, bell's way of writing resembles Joanna Kadi's Thinking Class who reaffirmed that working class members of our society are among best thinkers and most important agents of social change.

When reading the book I began to realize what social class I am in and how it effects the person I am. I never really thought about how my social class effected me or exactly where I fit into society. It was never an issure for me or my family. Bell Hooks did a good job at describing her social class and how her family never talked about it and how that effected her. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Thankfully, bell hooks is always brave enough to tell it like it is. She is also compassionate enough to devote time to addressing the most important issues of our time. The class crisis in this country is coming to a head as the middle class dwindles even more rapidly in this economy. Perhaps with many millions more joining the ranks of the poor, we as a nation will finally confront and resolve our class related conflicts. Read and begin to think critically and behave compassionately.

Her observations are wise. Her grasp of history is absolute. Her ideas stimulate intelligent and loving thought, conversation, and action. Read this book.

I started reading this book shortly before Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast and news clips began pouring in from New Orleans. More clearly than ever, I understood the need for books like Where We Stand to encourage us to think about issues of class in America and then take action in our own lives.

I read bell hooks because she challenges the notions I have from my white supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist upbringing. Where We Stand continues in this tradition. While reflecting upon the events of her own life and her own actions, hooks is able to examine our culture while inviting us increase awareness of how issues of class impact our own lives. For example, while critically examining the influence of materialism in our society, hooks offers her own personal experience with owning a BMW and how her attitude toward the vehicle subtly affected her relationships with other people.

Anyone willing to examine how class, race, gender, and consumerism all collide will want to read this book.

Reading bell hooks, Where We Stand, was a challenge in itself. I had never thought of myself as being racist or having strong bias against any one group of people, but I did find myself getting angry with some of the things that she wrote about. I thought in the beginning that she painted a very sad harsh picture of her life growing up, and the trials she had to go through to get where she wanted to be. They were long and hard days, but she did get there. What I was most frustrated with was her repetitive nature. It was almost like she was going to make sure we GOT IT! I just think that when someone is on a soapbox about something they beat the subject matter into their audience's head until it is no longer interesting. I found myself becoming defensive about things. I got frustrated with her at times, but then I read on and began to see the injustices that were out there. Making it unfair in many different ways for blacks. I particularly felt strong about a chapter dealing with real estate, and how it is manipulated by "desirables" to keep "the undesirables" out. It is sad to think that you can put a dollar amount on the color of a person's skin. I felt ashamed at times, thinking the same things perhaps at one time or another. This reading has helped me grow as a person and it opened me up to the ways of the world. At least I hope that it has.

I suggest that everyone takes a look, it will be worth it.

Class does matter in the world whether we like to admitt it or not. Bell Hooks uses a variety of examples in her life to prove this point. Yes, she does use repetitive examples but there are repetitive issues dealing with race and class going on in the world right now. Thus, it helps prove the point even more.Many people like to state that class does not matter but deep down inside it matters. Hooks' novel is actually very real and it is hard for many people to admit that it is. I think she deserves four stars.

I finally decided to come to terms with how class affects the decisions I make and that people make on my behalf. bell hooks is a rigorous thinker who questions assumptions,especially her own. I liked the blend of experience and academic evidence she uses in the essays. Thinking about class raises a lot of emotion, especially shame, and having an intellectual basis for processing it helps. An excellent place to start.