Class, Customs, and Diversity

This week in class we spent some time discussing the different social classes, customs, and diversity that we see in our world today. We began the week by watching short YouTube segments from the PBS Documentary People Like Us: Social Class in America. One of my favorites was Tammy's Story and How to Marry the Rich. It was interesting to see how very different their lives were. I appreciated the added perspective from Tammy's story, she's a woman that lives in a less than ideal situation but they make things work. They don't have a car so she walks 10 miles to work everyday so that she can provide for her family, without welfare. Seeing the way that this family lives really makes me wonder if I would be willing to go through the same trials to provide for my family and not reach out for assistance from the government. It was definitely a humbling experience.

One comment that Brother Winfrey made was that prejudice and discrimination are two problems that still influence families. I often associate prejudice and discrimination with the Civil Rights Movement in the United States during the 1960's, but as my teacher asked us to share experiences where we were discriminated against it became quite clear how different the world is outside my relatively little home town where at least everyone tolerated each other for the most part. Brother Winfrey also pointed out that it is education, more than income, that is the dividing line between the "working class" and the "middle class." I've thought more about that idea this week and I think that there is a lot of truth to that. We classify the middle class as white collar professionals but the working class are considered to be blue collar and often have jobs as plumbers, skilled laborers, electricians, or truck drivers. Most of these occupations only require some college or trade school, whereas the white collar professionals typically have to have some kind of college degree.

Class (our access to resources) and culture (traditions and customs) really have a lot to do with the things that we do in our daily lives. We started making a list in class about all of the different areas of impact such as, who your friends are, food you eat, clothing, speech, work ethic, education, where you live, how you live, values, expectations, how and when you would choose (or not choose) a spouse, religion, sexuality, and what you choose to do for entertainment. All of these aspects really help to shape a person into who they really are. Even when we look at our own lives we can see how our lives are different based off of our own personal class and culture.