Will Barratt, Ph.D. ACPA 2011

 To provide you with a language and more complex models about class to give you more agency with the topic  To provide you with more interesting conversations about class  To help us all move toward equalizing the class inequities that we all create

 Building a language about class  If you have no language for something you have no agency with it.

 Your experience of class is a good starting place  Your experience of class does not generalize well to other people

 If I am interested in economies and societies these are excellent models of class

 If I am interested in people, then I need personal models of class

 Why do so many discussions about class on campus focus on the first generation student and not on the majority student?  Is it easier to see difference than sameness?

 What is the majority class student like on your campus? ◦ What do her parents do for work? ◦ What fashions and labels does she wear? ◦ What is her attitude toward education and college? ◦ What is her major? ◦ Is she entitled or does she ask permission?

 What is the underclass / lower class student like on your campus? ◦ What do her parents do for work? ◦ What fashions and labels does she wear? ◦ What is her attitude toward education and college? ◦ What is her major? ◦ Is she entitled or does she ask permission? ◦ How is she different than Misty?

 What is the upper class student like on your campus? ◦ What do her parents do for work? ◦ What fashions and labels does she wear? ◦ What is her attitude toward education and college? ◦ What is her major? ◦ Is she entitled or does she ask permission? ◦ How is she different than Misty?

 This is the little truth that distract you from larger and scarier truths ◦ What is simple is rarely true ◦ What is true is rarely simple

 5% of households make more than $180,001  80% of households make less than $100,000  60% of households make less than $61,801  40% of households make less than $38,550  20% of households make less than $20,453  US Census, 2010

 Social class of origin  Current felt social class  Attributed social class  We all learned who we were  We all learned who we were not  As people change class identity they become who there were not

 Social class of origin ◦ Working class  Current felt social class as a senior ◦ Is confused  Attributed social class ◦ After graduation is middle class ◦ From one perspective she is both working class and middle/majority class  Campus is a conversion experience

 When she was young she learned who she was and who she wasn’t ◦ Female, not male ◦ European-American, not anything else ◦ Working class, not a college educated professional  Because of college she became who she was not!  What does it mean to have two social class identities? Is that possible?

 Social class of origin ◦ Upper middle class in the US ◦ Majority class, middle class, on campus  Current felt social class as a senior ◦ Misty believes she is in the upper middle class, and aspires to be like famous people she reads about  Attributed social class ◦?◦?  Campus is a confirmation experience

 Social class of origin  Current felt social class, as a senior  Attributed social class ◦ Never change on campus

 Social class is a collection of subcultures arranged in a hierarchy of prestige ◦ Foods ◦ Fashion ◦ Music ◦ Social relationships ◦ Attitude toward education ◦ Attitude toward work

 How are Louise, Misty, and Ursula different? ◦ How they will do in a job interview? ◦ How are their food preferences different? ◦ How are there fashion preferences different?  Labels – big, small, none ◦ What are some other differences?

 Economic capital ◦ Income and wealth that can provide experiences that build knowledge and skill  Social capital ◦ Social groups created for mutual benefit ◦ It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you  Cultural capital ◦ Knowledge and skills of the prestige class  (Bourdieu, 1986, Forms of Capital)

 Academic capital? ◦ The ability to read well, write well, take notes well, speak in class well, take an exam well...  Leadership capital? ◦ The ability to provide leadership  Spiritual / religious capital? ◦ Personal spiritual richness and wealth

 Economic capital ◦ She came from the bottom 50% and may move to the 60 th percentile  Cultural capital ◦ This is not valued at home, not accumulated on campus  Social capital ◦ She has weak skills because she never had to meet new people ◦ No mentor reached out to her

 Economic capital ◦ Misty used positional goods, obviously labeled fashion, as a sigil of her class ◦ Misty is not as rich as she would like to be  Cultural capital ◦ Misty developed little cultural capital while on campus  Social capital ◦ Misty developed few skills because she is the center of the world

 Economic ◦ Had a cushion if needed ◦ Never has obviously labeled fashion  Cultural ◦ Ursula has more cultural capital than many faculty and builds more on campus  Social ◦ Ursula is intimidated by no one ◦ Ursula came to campus knowing the secret handshake and practiced it regularly

 Educational attainment  Institutional prestige

 Occupations are prestige ranked ◦ Can a truck driver / nurse couple be upper middle class?

 Prestige is collective belief in prestige ◦ Prestige college ◦ Prestige fashion ◦ Prestige beer ◦ Prestige wine

 People talk as though class is money  People act as though class is prestige Will Barratt, Ph.D.

 Scripts  Costumes  Blocking  Set dressing  Where do we learn these roles?  Where do we teach these roles?

 Louise learned about class roles from television, movies, and magazines  Her fashionable clothing becomes a costume for her  Money and fashion are central to her ideas about class

 Class is a formal and informal system that de-facto and de-jure reproduces and reinforces class membership ◦ Schools ◦ Banks ◦ Courts ◦ Neighborhoods  We all co-create this system

 Normal is rewarded ◦ The campus majority class, the in group, my group  Abnormal is sanctioned ◦ Too rich or too poor, the out group, your group ◦ Sanctions for the poor have more serious consequences than sanctions for the rich

 Who on your campus values Misty’s social class culture and identity of origin?  What do they do to value Misty’s social class culture and identity of origin?

 Who on your campus de-values Louise’s social class culture and identity of origin?  What do they do to de-value Louise’s social class culture and identity of origin?

 Engagement / involvement ◦ Not engaged, not involved, and never seeing the need to build cultural and social capital ◦ Never used services  Changing identity toward the majority ◦ Often felt like an imposter on campus ◦ Often felt like she was class passing  Changing identity away from family

 How do we create the norms on campus to place economic, social, and cultural barriers in front of Louise? ◦ Language ◦ Dress / Fashion ◦ Expectation of personal enterprise ◦ Knowing how to use resources ◦ Knowing what she doesn’t know  How do we accommodate Louise?

 Misty was born on 3 rd base and thinks she hit a triple ◦ Attributed to Barry Switzer  Misty deserves things without effort on her part

 Misty doesn’t need to meet people, they should meet Misty.  Never engaged / never involved / never used campus services ◦ “If they were any good they would be in private practice!”

 She encounters gender  She encounters ethnicity  She does not encounter class because she is in the majority and everyone wants to be like Misty  Misty continues to live in a class bubble that is reinforced by campus norms

 She graduates without ever encountering class  She is a fish who never noticed the water supporting her

 Became involved ◦ Hall government ◦ Student government ◦ Professional associations ◦ Leadership workshops ◦ Internships ◦ Mentoring groups ◦ Junior year abroad  Michelle still lives in a majority class bubble

 One caring, supportive, and honest conversation with someone about her economic cushion, her advantages growing up that build cultural capital, and her social skills learned at home helped Michelle begin to see social class contrast and recognize her privilege  Michelle is on her way to awareness

 How do we create the norms on campus to advantage, or privilege, Misty and Michelle? ◦ Language ◦ Dress / Fashion ◦ Expectation of personal enterprise ◦ Knowing how to use resources ◦ Knowing what she doesn’t know

 Ursula is constantly aware of social class contrast and differences between her background and most other students  Ursula is aware that she often has more cultural capital than her professors ◦ She class passes in an interesting way  Ursula is aware of her privileges

 How do we create the norms on campus to advantage, or privilege, Ursula? ◦ Language ◦ Dress / Fashion ◦ Expectation of personal enterprise ◦ Knowing how to use resources ◦ Knowing what she doesn’t know

 We all co-create class in every interaction

 Most models of student development reflect Misty, Michelle and Ursula’s life  Most campus environments are normed around Misty’s and Michelle’s lifestyle, social life, fashion, food, hair, and nails  Misty and Michelle are experienced as normal  Louise and Ursula are experienced as abnormal

 You can see social class if you look  The best predictors of college success are parental income and education  Louise, and especially Whitney Page from the working class / poverty class, are unlikely to graduate  Do you think social class of origin is related to graduation rates?

 Learn your own class history ◦ Write a classnography for yourself  Take an interest in talking with Whitney Page (working class / poverty class), Louise, Misty, and Ursula about class  Learn to see class privileges and injuries  Learn to be class inclusive

 What are the problems that you have when talking about class? ◦ Embarrassment, guilt, shame, and fear ◦ lead to ◦ defense, denial, minimization, intellectualization, and rationalization ◦ (See Sherry Watt’s Privileged Identity Exploration model)

 How can you help Louise with a dialog about class?  What are your goals in talking with Louise about class?

 How can you help Misty with a dialog about class?  What are you goals in talking with Misty about class?

Will Barratt, A.B., M.S., Ph.D.

 I learned class roles at home, at school, at college, and at work  I am often given privilege ◦ Deference, title, positional respect, preferred service, slack from authority...  In my class it is rude to ask for privilege