Classism Explored

We have been considering the factors and causes of class and classism in class and this made me think about how some of these factors play out in my own life. One of the influences on class is you're group of origin, and my group of origin is the North Shore suburbs of Chicago because that is where I have been growing up and my high school, New Trier High School feeds from most of the North Shore area. If you look up New Trier on Urbandictionary.com the image attached is what comes up. New Trier is stereotyped as having all designer clothing and even outfits that "cost as much as some people's monthly salaries." Of course this is a stereotype and does not apply to the general population, but it is true that it applies to some New Trier students, and what does this mean for their group of origin? This means that there are many different factors that influence their class that come from the source of their class or their group of origin (the North Shore). One of the tell-tales of your class is the cultural aspect, or what tastes you are trained to like because of your social class. The specific tastes apparently for New Trier students are, "kate spade, louis vuitton, tiffany, and range rovers." Where another group mentioned that pertains to your class is the education you receive. That is also mentioned for New Trier students as it is said that you must have, "at LEAST two friends going to ivy league schools."

Now these are obviously stereotypes, but it is interesting to see how they are described as ,"rich bitches," so the class for most of the North Shore area would be the upper class or the rich, and many the factors contributing to class, such as education, and cultural tastes, are mentioned just like we discussed in class. I would guess that this person is definitely expressing strong upper classism, or prejudice against the upper class when they describe the New Trier district as, "a rich bitch bubble...too stuck up." It is classism for sure, however, I cannot be positive it is upper classism because I don't know what class this person is in to begin with.

The College Query

As my junior year of high school is coming to a close, there is a constant buzz at my high school about what people will do after high school, because senior year is the time to prepare for whichever path you will end up taking. At my high school, the norm it seems is to go to a university after high school. So it seems most adults who I have had conversations with recently and even most other students have asked where I am looking, in terms of colleges. I just can't seem to escape that question, and even as I was browsing Facebook earlier today the question was posed for me to update my profile with that very information.

I have thought about the fact that this question is always asked many times but the fact that people focus on that so much in this area I something I did not consider until we studied social classes in my American Studies class. But one of the topics we learned about that is a source of social class is group of origin and group of aspiration, or the group that you are taught to want to be when you are older. Here in the North Shore we are raised by parents who mostly all went to college and have high paying business jobs, so that is the standard that has been set by our group of origin. Also, the group we are taught to aspire to be nowadays are high paying business men with degrees maybe even past what we the degree of our parents were so greater than a 4-year degree. I do not believe the group of origin and group of aspiration are always so similar however. For example, in The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, we learn that Gatsby's parents were, "shiftless and unsuccessful farm people," yet instead of aspiring to be just like them when he grew up he, "never really accepted them as his parents at all." (98) This shows that Gatsby did not have any desire to be like his parents, instead he joined the army and got as far away from home as possible, even being sent across the world, in order to pave his own path to his version of success, as an East Egger. 

It is just very interesting to think, after exploring the origins of my class, how in my area it can be so normal to hear the query about college multiple times a day, but in other neighborhoods it may not be even on the table and so therefore never mentioned. That is the difference between class in America, and it is sad because if someone does not have the option of college on the table, how are they supposed to secure a position from the ever decreasing number of jobs if they are competing against college-educated people. It would seem to me that the American dream value of mobility between classes is not nearly as simple as people would want it to be. 

Hard Work Doesn't Beat Money Even though Money Doesn't Work Hard

It has come to my attention as we read in class the Fitzgerald classic, The Great Gatsby, that there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor in America. Fitzgerald's novel explores the high society of the rich versus lower social classes as a main theme and through this novel I have began to think about what factors determine your social class. The factors I personally believe have to do with you're social class are education, wealth of your family to begin with, neighborhood, race, and gender. Sadly, none of these factors include how hard you work, contrary to the typical American dream. Obama asserts as quoted on the Pew Research Center website that this growing gap between social classes undermines, "America's basic bargain--if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead." This "bargain" is the American dream I mentioned before, but unfortunately it seems to be just that, a dream in our modern day society. There are so many various problems that are stopping the gap from closing between the rich and the poor in our systems in America, including the fact that the better schools are in the better neighborhoods, so where you live automatically determines your level of education and therefore your future job. That leaves little room for movement if you are born into a neighborhood with a high school dropout rate of 1 in 2, which sadly is very common.

However, despite the cold hard facts that hard work just simply doesn't grant access to high society, there are many of us who are still holding on to that American dream. In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center,  "35% of Americans agreed that “hard work offers little guarantee of success” while 63% disagreed in our survey last year." Keep holding to that hope America, because maybe what is now pure imagination will become reality. 

Openly Gay NFL Player Scandal

This past week during the NFL draft something revolutionary happened to America's favorite sport, the game of football. Even though it was previously unheard of, an openly gay man was drafted into the NFL. This was arguably the biggest news story of the week and ESPN replayed it over and over again, just to be certain it was seen from sea to shining sea. The Guardian referred to it in awe as, "the kiss watched 'round the world." This is a miracle and a huge leap in a society that would leave a homosexual professional athlete with little or no endorsements if they revealed their sexuality. Michael Sam is living proof that our society has adapted and become more accepting because already as of midweek, "Sam's Rams jersey was the No2 seller among rookies at NFLShop.com." 

However, despite the fact that this is an amazing event that will change the future of professional sports in America, we can't give too much credit to the NFL for making this change happen. They are indeed a business and play to the wants of their fans in order to make a profit. One of the main reasons it would be beneficial to draft Michael Sam for the NFL is that the LGBT community is becoming a larger fan-base. Bragman, the vice-chairman of reputation.com is quoted in The Guardian, commenting on the NFL in regards to the draft of Sam, "It understands very well that LGBT fans are passionate, they have good incomes, they're concentrated in NFL cities." This means that the fanbase of this LGBT community is going to be centered around the major cities that happen to have NFL teams and the NFL wants to speak to the demand of their customer, just as would any other smart business. 

There is also room for criticism of the fact that we were bombarded with this scene of Michael Sam and his boyfriend kissing repeatedly on national television, and yes, of course I am happy for him and what this means for the future of the sport, but why this kiss in particular? I do not believe they would show a heterosexual couple kissing near as many times if at all as this couple on air, simply because a heterosexual kiss is not as "scandalous." The things we see on the news are not the every day accepted things in society, they are the scandals and out there things that people don't hear everyday. This goes to show that as a society we still have some work to do in accepting the LGBT community as nothing different from heterosexuals, because they are still the scandal and not the norm.