Sep 18 2015
Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures
BANNED BROADCAST
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.”
Republicans often accuse President Obama of waging a “class war.” Progressives often wish that were so. While many of us acknowledge class as a crucial factor in political analysis, we don’t place nearly enough emphasis on it in our political organizing.
Now, a new book by one of the nation’s leading progressive activists studying class tackles this issue head on. Betsy Leondar-Wright, program director at the Boston-based group Class Action, has written “Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures.”
In 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. When Leondar-Wright first began gathering the data, she expected gender and race to be greater drivers of people’s behavior patterns. Instead, she said she found, “By far the most commonalities were among people of similar class, even if they were different by race, gender, age, generation and issue.”
3 Responses to “Missing Class: Strengthening Social Movement Groups by Seeing Class Cultures”
what is this “banned broadcast” business, which is cited but not explained?
These “banned broadcasts” are an indication of how far KPFK Radio has moved from it’s listener base. WE are privileged to hear the voices of inspiration and education that KPFK programmers and hosts bring to the airwaves…yet to dismiss the hard work of these programmers and put them on ‘half-pay’ and then BAN their program from the air is an utter usurpation of the rights of the listener and the programmer. WHO are these ‘managers and BOARD MEMBERS? Are they answerable for the mismanagement of the ONLY broadcast media that seems to be run by human beings and not robots?
One of the things that really needs to be discussed is class power, and how it is used.