Social Class on Campus
Will Barratt, Ph.D.
The Privilege Meme - a few words from Will
I want to respond to some of the comments from the blogsphere about the privilege meme. I am thankful to N. Jeanne Burns at http://quakerclass.blogspot.com/ who took our experience and moved it into the blogsphere, modifying it appropriately and keeping our names on it. Her posting was the start of the meme, we just wrote the experience. I am also thankful Peggy McIntosh for her "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" that is one grandparent of what we produced.
We designed a small group experience on privilege as a way to explore class, creating a list of items grounded in the published research literature and in our interviews as markers of privilege. Our assumption was that that privilege is one way to explore class.
This is a collection of statements that when taken together reflect to a large degree the privilege that people had when they grew up and that privilege in turn reflects on class. The list focuses on the opportunities provided for people and does not focus on individual actions. We tried to make statement about things that are generally true for many people and I apologize if your story didn't get told in our list.
This experience reflects a "capital" idea of class, which is one among many useful models of class. Beginning with Pierre Bourdieu's ideas of economic capital, social capital, and cultural capital to which we added academic capital because of our context on campus.
This experience is designed for US American college students or recent college graduates. In the newer version one item has been added for international students. It would be interesting to see versions from other nations and cultures.
The goal of the exercise is to get people talking and thinking about privilege as a way to talk and think about class. Talking and thinking about privilege and class will lead to learning about privilege and class. That's it.
It is clear that this experience leads to an emotional response in many people, and it is important to explore the emotional response that you have to this experience in a constructive and positive way. This experience is not designed to evoke any particular emotional response. The two most common emotional reactions are guilt and anger. Identifying what it is on the list that makes you angry or guilty and what it is in you that makes you feel guilty or angry are part of an increased awareness of privilege and class. Emotional responses to the list may also reflect your world view about difference and diversity.
"This statements doesn't match my experience of privilege and class so the whole thing is wrong and Dr. Barratt and his colleagues are . . . " This is a typical anger response read in many blogs. I hope that people realize that their experiences of privilege and class will be quite different than other people's experiences of privilege and class, and I hope people don't generalize too much from their own experiences of class.
This is one among many ways to get people thinking and talking about privilege and class. I use Milton Bennett's Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity as a model and intercultural learning, so I see people as moving from denial through defense, minimization, acceptance, adaptation and finally into integration. Discussion of this experience and people's emotional reaction to it can productively use these six stages as an underlying model.
Great articles and blogs on the meme are at:
Racialicious: Has class trumped race?
Part I - http://www.racialicious.com/2008/02/05/has-class-trumped-race-part-1-understanding-privilege/
Part 2 - http://www.racialicious.com/2008/02/07/has-class-trumped-race-part-2-interpreting-privilege/
Part 3 - http://www.racialicious.com/2008/02/13/has-class-trumped-race-part-3-acknowleding-privilege/
Education and Class (Jane Van Galen) - http://educationandclass.com/2008/02/13/class-race-and-privilege/
Education and Class (Jane Van Galen) - an earlier post - http://educationandclass.com/2008/01/04/privilege-goes-viral/
Whatever (Joe Scalzi) http://scalzi.com/whatever/?p=270 This is a good critical piece, however the author believes his experience of class is similar to everyone's experience of class. Scalzi also has a good post on "Being Poor" http://scalzi.com/whatever/003704.html
Megan McArdle at The Atlantic.com posted a critique also at: http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/01/the_pword.php and I just love the statement: "This list reeks of academics confusing their petit-bourgeois disdain of ostentation with actual privilege."
New Resource - http://socialclassoncampus.blogspot.com/ As I am preparing a manuscript I thought it would be a good idea to have peer reviews publicly, as well as move the dialog along. Sections will be added as they are done, and microchapters will appear that provide stories and illustrations.
Staff Development Resources - these were developed by Minnette Huck, Meagan Cahill, Stacy Ploskonka, Drew Lurker, Angie Carlen in collaboration with me - the intent is awareness and the audience is staff development in residence halls.
Take a Step Forward - a simple experience that illustrates privilege.
Take a Step Forward II - an updated version
Take a Step Forward II - a web page version
Social Class Knowledge Quiz - with answers - a simple quiz to heighten awareness of social class.
Campus Connection - a wonderful simulation experience all about social capital.
Why social class and not socio-economic status (SES)? Social class is best seen as a cultural phenomenon. SES, as measured by educational attainment, occupational prestige, and income can change. Our culture of origin, like our ethnicity of origin and our gender of origin, stays with us throughout our lives.
What is social class: Social class is a collection of subcultures arranged in a hierarchy of prestige.
Presentations:
PowerPoint Presentations: Please request these by e-mail (willbarratt@indstate.edu) as they contain copyrighted images and cannot be freely distributed.
Print Resources:
Nine Points - W. Barratt (PDF File) - This is a handout that I use in staff development and conference presentations, most recently at NASPA 2006. Keywords: staff development handout social class
Identifying Social Class Markers - W. Barratt (PDF File) - This is a group activity experience designed to have participants encounter their common ideas about social class markers by attributing social class to a variety of objects and experiences. Keywords social class experience staff development.
Social Class Environments - W. Barratt (PDF File) - This is a handout contrasting the environments of two groups; the Working class and Lower-Middle class and the Middle-Middle and Upper-Middle class. This uses a human aggregate model to contrast these two groups. keywords: social class environments ecology culture.
Social Class Privilege - W. Barratt (PDF File) - This is a handout based on the work of Peggy McIntosh "White privilege: Unpacking the knapsack" and looks at social class privilege. This is a good resource for classes exploring the ideas of privilege associated with gender, ethnicity, and social class. Keywords: staff development privilege encounter awareness.
Barratt Simplified Measure of Social Status (PDF) - This is based on August B. Hollingshead's measure of social status and has been updated to reflect current concepts of occupational prestige and generational shifts. Keywords: assessment measure research social class status SES socio-economic status.
Workshops and staff development:
Encounters with social class - A student affairs and campus staff development workshop.
What: This two-three hour workshop has three learning goals: First to help participants understand the basics of social class. Second, to help participants identify programs and practices on their campus that have positive and negative impact on student social class. Third, to identify new programs and practices that will positively impact student social class learning, growth, and development. The workshop model is designed around encounter, which can be considered the first step on the path of change.
Why: Social class, like gender and ethnicity, is a driving and limiting force in our lives. Most people, on campus and off campus, do not know anything about social class and how it affects everything from college choice to retention.
Who: Will Barratt, Ph.D. willbarratt at indstate dot edu (if your address is not in machine readable form, you get much less spam)
04/21/2008
University Learning Outcomes Assessment