On any given day, you would be hard-pressed to scroll through the news and not see an article about the wealth divide in the United States. Although wealth inequality in the United States has been growing for much of the past 60 years, class has been a significant part of America’s history for centuries. Classism is the systemic assignment of worth based on social class, and the policies and practices set up to benefit class-privileged people at the expense of poor, working class, and low-income people—which in the United States can be traced back to early policies that built the U.S. economy on the enslavement of Black and Native/Indigenous communities.
At Universities, classism can have a role in a student’s access to, or lack of access to, resources. Crises such as food insecurity notably impact college students, and research goes on to show that food-insecure students are “more likely to fall into a lower GPA category, food insecurity “diminishes students’ ability to excel in class, and it contributes to lower attendance and completion rates.” Access to resources can be a significant factor in student success.
Learning about this history can certainly be challenging, especially since the American ideal of meritocracy is important to many people, and talking about money and finances can also be taboo. In learning this history, however, we can better understand how classism (and the intersectionality of classism, racism, health issues, and more) is a driving force of inequality.
Looking to learn more and take action?
- Action: join a local mutual aid network
- University of Minnesota Food and Housing Insecurity resources
- The Minnesota Paradox, Professor Samual L. Myers Jr.
- College Made Them Feel Equal. The Virus Exposed How Unequal Theirs Lives Are, NY Times
- The story we tell about poverty isn't true, Mia Birdsong
No comments:
Post a Comment