Will Barratt, PhD
Adventurer
In 2011 I wrote "Why is social class important?" because of questions I had been asked at that point. During the last 10 years the emerging literature on social class on campus has ballooned. The number of thinkers and scholars addressing this question has risen - and here I include scholars on first generation students. Further, the number of random internet posts on why social class is important has dramatically risen.
Don't just take my word for it:
Top 7 significance of social classes - explained! by Puja Mondal
"Is the desire
for status a fundamental human motive? A review of the empirical
literature" (Psychological Bulletin, Vol 141(3).
What is Social Class and Why Does it Matter How Sociologists Define and Study the Concept by Niki Lisa Cole
Why Social Class Matters, Even if we Don't Agree what it means? by Kwame Anthony Appiah
The Impacts of Social Class is an academic class related site.
Still curious? Then so your own Internet search on duckduckgo.com (why is social class important)
"Water is Wet." "No it's not."
The US national dialog around race/ethnicity is fascinating at the moment. One group wants to increase awareness, and consequent pro-social behaviors and celebrations, about Black Lives. Another group does not want to do this, wants to deny history, and to marginalize, criminalize, and demonize anyone who has ever said Black Lives Matter. Identity social activists are vilified. Vilifying social class activists is currently about shouting 'socialist' or 'communist' which fits nicely into the good/bad naughty/nice categories of US politics.
These dialectic conversations about race/ethnicity/religion/gender/GLBTQ and even social class have a long US history. Dialectic is the wrong word, it should be polylectic, but we are society stuck in a binary media world.
Visible or Invisible Identity? Identity we can see is often more powerful from identity we cannot see. Visible identity looks good on the 6:00 news. Icons and flags provide backdrops for news bites. And now we have awareness ribbons for many 'invisible' issues. Campus mascots serve the same visual identification function. I am for my sports team means that I am against your sports team. I am for my identity group does NOT mean I am against your identity group, but the sports analysis in the US is pernicious.
I've a simple question: What is the icon for social class identity issues? What color is that ribbon?
Campus leaders are building structures to address the wide variety of identity/status issues that students bring with them. And, in order to get access to those structures and services a student, or campus member, needs to be officially recognized as a member of that group. For example, the blind need to prove the criteria level of visual impairment. The level of race/ethnicity (cultural or genetic) to belong to any group is a matter of great debate. I love people trying to categorize Kamala Harris, Tommy Chong, or Tiger Woods. As I have written before, categories are stupid.
The data says that parental education and parental occupation (data we can collect to put students into social class categories) is the most important predictor of continued college enrollment (read continued customers). The only way in which social class is addressed on campus is through categorizing students as first generation (and of course there are multiple definitions depending if a parent went to, or graduated from, a 2- or 4-year college), or as economically disadvantaged (this category used to be 'poor') depending on US Federal definitions of poverty.
A 'deficit' model is used for first generation and economically disadvantaged students - that is, first generation and economically disadvantaged students need extra help because these students are in need. In need of money is an economic capital view of class, in need of study skills is a cultural capital view of class, in need of networking is a social capital view of class. The need to 'enrich' students reflects a classist view of the underclasses.
A lot of publications note that grades and test scores are the best predictors of college success. Note please that higher social class students tend to get higher grades and test scores.
What about economically, culturally, and socially advantaged students?
Um, well, ah . . . . . Oh, wait, this is the group that is mostly ignorant about social class on campus.
Why is social class on campus important?
Because it is. The important question is: Why do campus leaders ignore social class.
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