Sunday, January 15, 2012

Assignment#5-Websites

Economic inequity is a feminist issue because it is easier for women to become lower class then men.  Men and women still tend to hold stereotypical jobs a lot of the time and overall men usually make more then women and can often advance easier in careers then women can.

There are many different classes in the world today, and many people like to believe that class doesn’t exist or isn’t that important.  The CWCS website states “And sadly, our belief that class doesn't exist keeps us from understanding how much it matters."  I learned that the CWCS website helps the working class gain respect by showing the world how important they are and how they help people in all classes. 








I watched all the videos on the ‘People like us” website and was amazed at what some people had to say.  The trailer showed how easy it is for people to guess what class someone is from just by the way they are dressed.  The trailer starts off by people guessing a mans class, and calling him lower class right away, just by the way he was dressed. One lady even called him pitiful.  It was mentioned that its against American principle to belong to a class and a lot of times people have a hard time talking about class because they don't want to admit it exists.  The WASP video was interesting to, showing how snobby some people can be, and one lady saying that the words evening gown, lingerie and drapes, bothered her so much, because they were the incorrect way of saying those words.  Thinking about snobby people reminded me of this clip from family guy below.


I also read the stories on the “People like us” website, and the one that bothered me the most was the story about Ginny.  Ginny lives in a run down trailer with 4 adolescent children and refuses to receive welfare and only makes $158 every 2 weeks.  This makes her feel superior to her friends who receive welfare but her daughter makes fun of her for being trashy.  I understand that she doesn’t feel comfortable taking welfare, but that’s not fair for her kids to be in a situation like that where their electricity and gas is constantly being turned off.  I feel that Ginny probably doesn’t want to take the welfare because many people look down on people for taking welfare, which I believe is because so many people abuse it and ruin it for the people who actually need it like Ginny.  My step dad is a Physicians assistant in town that has a lot of people on welfare, and he feels that about half of them are capable of working but are just too lazy, and they even admit it sometimes.  I think there should be stricter rules for people on welfare to exclude it from people who abuse it, so families like Ginnys aren't stuck with no heat or electricity because they are embarrassed by all the negative talk on welfare.

Questions/Comments for class:
In some ways is it better to be in a middle class or working class family compared to upper class?  The reason I ask this is because I had a couple friends growing up in rich families and I just recently talked to them lately and heard they both have gone down hill, and I feel that being in upper class actually made it worse for them. I heard in the past 4 years since I have seen them one of them, who lives in a 2 million dollar house got addicted to hard drugs, since his mom spoiled him like crazy and constantly gave him more and more money and didn’t care what he was blowing it on.  Both of them are not working or going to school and do nothing with there lives and I honestly think its because their parents gave them whatever they wanted and they never learned the value of a dollar, and that you need to actually work to get things in life.

13 comments:

  1. Yesss I love that Family Guy clip!! I thought it was interesting how you kept bringing up the fact that people don't want to admit that class exists because I thought it was just an obvious, known idea that class exists. I can't believe there are even people who would say that it doesn't. I also really like your point about how being rich doesn't always mean things go great for you, and it can end up bringing a lot of bad things into your life as well.

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  2. OK first, love the family guy clip! Can't go wrong with family guy hahaha! But anyway, i liked your first paragraph a lot because you mention the stereotypical jobs. Those drive me nuts!! Like women cant be cops or guys cant be nurses. It's so dumb! Or when women DO become cops they have that awful title as a "lady cop". And being a social work major, I see that a lot of the students are women and it drives me crazy that what I want to do as a gender title to it!!! I also like your point about how society doesn't like to think class exists. The problem with society is, if it doesn't affect us directly, we don't see it or bother to fix it: I.E: The rich and poor. Thats a HUUGEEE problem!!

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  3. The sad reality of your friends lives is that they will be ruling our society. When their parents pass away, they will inherit anything the parents own even private companies( if they own one) and people in lower classes and middle classes will probably have to work for them. By the way, working class are not necessarily poor these people include people who are electricians, plumbers, and carpenters. They get paid a pretty penny, but are required to do more physically demanding work. Whereas middle class are often found in traditional white collar jobs( I think) like management, advertising, P.R.,lawyers and other office related jobs. Finally people in a low class tend to be people who make less than $24,000( depends on number of dependents) and tend to be single parents. I'm just mentioning this because you mixed working class and middle class interchangeably, if that makes sense. Anyways, good post.

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  4. Your question for class is really good. I can't sit here and try to pick a class to belong to, my parents work hard and taught me the value of a dollar. I wouldn't want to be given everything because I then wouldnt appreciate what I have.

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  5. Good post and great Family Guy video. Be careful not to label the wealthy as "not knowing the value of a dollar". I know a lot of wealthy families that are actually much more frugal than family's who have less money than them. Assuming certain things like this about each class is what sustains social class stereotypes. Very insightful post, thanks.

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  6. I thought it was funny a little later in that Family Guy episode even Brown University takes a dig basically as an inferior ivy league school. Perfect symbol of class status. Your discussion of the trap of being handed everything growing makes a fair point. As I've gotten older, it's been my economic position that's helped me develop a greater sense of appreciation for what I do have.

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  7. Nice post. I also talked about on the "People like Us" website when they tried to guess what social class the man came from. The idea that they could just make judgments on his clothes is sad but true. We do it all the time with people. Depending on if they where name brands or not we judge which social class they come from. The family guy video was entertaining as well.

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  8. I really like how you brought up that your step dad has patients who are on welfare, and have admitted they could probably work. Seems so crazy to me!! There totally needs to be stricter rules and regulations for welfare.

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  9. I really like how your brought up the fact that people will judge what class your in just because of how you dress. Just like employers will judge if they should hire you just by the color of your skin. When will people realize that you can't judge a book by it's cover? I mean honestly in todays society you would think people would look a little further within someone before judging. I guess not, maybe if I always dress in suits people will thinkI'm rich? Stereotype :-/ GREAT POST!

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  10. Liked the Family Guy video it was really funny. And i think its soo true that people do judge by what class youre in just by you dress

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  11. I love the Family Guy clip. Sadly, I've know a some people that could be defined as WASPs and they do sometimes act like that. I can never get used to it. Not all of them are snobs but there are many out there who do act like the ones you mentioned in your post. Great job.

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  12. I don't think class is what messed those kids up, it was more likely bad parenting.

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  13. good point mike^....and i do agree brandon...welfare needs more screening!

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