52 Books, Week 18: Class Matters

Class matters is based on the series of articles that was published in the new york times last year. Like the articles, the book takes a very broad cut on how issues of class affect the lives of americans (healthcare, immigration, job security, marriage, religion, education etc.).

Trying to tease out class, while ignoring other factors that affect the lives of individuals in America is tough, but the author addresses the challenge up front. The issue of class is, "vast, amorphous, politically charged, largely unacknowledged. In a country where the overwhelming majority of people identify themselves as middle class, there seemed to be no consensus as to what class meant, let alone whether it mattered".

Thankfully, the editor spends the rest of the book putting together a collection of articles, that proves class does matter. A lot. The collection works as a primer to these thorny issues, but if you're looking for a little more meat I suggest you start with the well done web presentation and see if it piques your interest to probe further.

Here's a quote that stood out to me: "A paradox lies at the heart of [the] new American meritocracy. Merit has replaced the old system of inherited privilege, in which parents to the manner born handed down the manor to their children. But merit, it turns out, is at least partly classed-based. Parents with money, education, and connections cultivate in their children the habits that the meritocracy rewards. When their children then succeed, their success is seen as earned..."

Another, "Being born in the elite in the US gives you a constellation of privileges that very few people in the world have ever experienced. Being born poor in the US gives you disadvantages unlike anything in Western Europe, Japan, and Canada". This statement is fascinating to me for a number of reasons, but primarily because it starts to unearth issues about our market-based system, and how the country has decided to reward (and for that matter punish) its participants. I should go back to school.