• Listen to this segment with Betsy Leondar-Wright

• Listen to the entire program with Host Sonali Kolhatkar

A new book by one of the nation’s leading progressive activists studying class tackles the issue of class cultures and how we often miss seeing class in our political organizing. Betsy Leondar-Wright is the program director at the Boston-based group Class Action.

Her earlier books include Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle Class Activists” and “The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide. Her new book is called “Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures.” The book is an extensive and academically rigorous study spanning years.

Leondar-Wright attended dozens of political group meetings, recorded them, interviewed hundreds of attendees in order to determine their class backgrounds, and then reviewed the recordings to see if patterns emerged. Her findings on the extent to which people’s behavior depended on class were surprising. On Tuesday we aired part 1 of our two part interview with Betsy.

GUEST: Betsy Leondar-Wright, program director at the Boston-based group Class Action, has written “Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures.” Leondar-Wright’s earlier books include “Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle Class Activists” and “The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide