I particularly liked reading this book only because Bell Hooks addresses particular issues that many of the
In the beginning of her book she talks about poverty. She says that “poverty in the white mind is always primarily black” and “the black poor are everywhere.” At one time I even thought this way until I saw different.
I have volunteered at a halfway house, soup kitchen and drop in center and it was surprising to me to see so many different types of people that come into these places. While over in
I found Chapter Six, Being Rich, interesting to read. I never thought about television, newspapers and magazines as ways to identify with class. I now think into more about what is shown and what I watch on TV. I believe it is important to have sitcoms, soap operas and talk shows that identify a variety of social classes. It allows multiple people to identify with particular class and learn more about the classes they aren’t in. What is shown on Television isn’t always accurate to what really happens in reality in the different classes.
Hooks suggest that many of us should start thing about class in a different perspective. I believe it may be a better way of getting somewhere in our future but the chances of it happening are slim. This book highlighted some of the same issues I have studied and discussed in most of my courses for social work.
I agree with you that Bell Hooks talks about subjects society as a whole is ignorant to. She brings up issues people are uncomfortable to talk or think about and through her writing makes you think about them. I think her book will make anyone that reads it pay attention more. You brought up a good point about people thinking poverty is primarily blacks. That is how people are ignorant and I am sure it has crossed all of our minds at one time or another. I do tend to pay attention to my surroundings and I notice that a lot of homeless people are not just black.
ReplyDeleteI also never thought of television, newspapers and magazines as a way to show class. That is obviously something I never paid attention to but I will now after reading this book. I agree with you that it is important to have sitcoms, soaps, and talk shows that identify social class because it educates people on the issue. It is a subtle way to expose us to social class in a positive way.
i agree with you that the poverty stretches to more then just the black community. being black doesn't mean your poor, stupid, a wife beater, a great sports person, or any other stereotypes that today's society labels them. poverty never attached itself to a race, it's a global problem and people from all walks of life suffer from it.
ReplyDeleteit is interesting to look at class by what media you pay attention to. whether you watch to fox 19 news, CNN, read the NY Times, or listen to NPR. it reveals how you consume the information, and what you rely on to get by. the fox news being the low end spectrum, and NY times and NPR being the high end spectrum. with magazines, do you have the latest issue of cosmopolitan magazine, or do you have the latest issue of Fortune magazine. even the natural geographic could be considered higher brow magazines. they are all indicators of where you stand financially and what you pay attention too. thus fitting you into a class structure.
I agree with you as well with saying poverty is more than just the black community. I am from Cincinnati, Oh, and I have been Over the Rhine and Avondale too. I personally think you see all kinds of people in poverty in Cincinnati. Even going to Bengals and Reds game, you always see homeless people bagging for money or playing on drums to get some extra change. I do not think it is fair how society associates the black community with poverty. Poverty is not restricted to one race or gender.
ReplyDeleteI think television and media is a huge broadcaster in the way people perceive poverty. Shows such as "Extreme Make- Over Home Edition" I know they have had a few families in poverty who have had a child who is handicapped and they build them a huge new house, so they can live in a luxury lifestyle and usually benefit the child in need. I also think social class is all over in magazines as well. They promote the most expensive products and classify stuff that the celebrities use. Lets me honest, how many of us can have Botox Parties in our own home?
I think that you make a lot of very interesting points, especially when you talked about actually working with the homeless and interviewing them. I have never realized that people, who are homeless, have actually been for a while. I have actually volunteered at several different soup kitchens as well and I think that there definitely are a variety of people in poverty who come through. People from all over the world suffer from poverty.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter six I also thought it was interesting because I never realized how T.V. portrays the variety of social classes, and it certainly isn't always accurate compared to today's society, but important to show to educate the public.
I always sort of thought of poverty as just a class thing, not always a race issue. I guess I just know of so many poor white people, that I didn't think that there was really a difference in numbers of poor whites or poor african americans. I think that a lot of racial issues can also be considered class issues. Historically, unfathomable injustices have been delivered only because of the hatred of the color of someone's skin. I'm sure that it still goes on today, but for example, the very well documented injustices and inequalities toward african americans in the criminal justice system that we're taught about in SOC 101... I think that there is definitely institutional racism still going on today, but I would also argue that there is institutional discrimination in the criminal justice system that negatively impacts anyone who is poor.
ReplyDeleteI love being able to watch TV shows and seeing what other lifestyles are like. I agree with you and the other posters that this "view into different worlds" is a very good thing for people of all ages, social classes, race - everyone!
I can honestly say I have NEVER though poverty was a race thing. It has never occurred to me to feel that way. I can read this book and see where the writing is drawing her conclusions and can even relate to what she discusses at some intervals. But I've never been black so I cant relate from that perspective. I can say that I dont see what she sees. I dont see racism at every turn. I dont see this division. I am not saying that some are not racist. Clearly there are and that is never going to change. There will always be stupid people and people who hate for no obvious justifiable reason. I can understand that she is older than I and that she has experienced a time in the 60s I am not familiar with. I wasnt even born until the 70s. I would like to think her estimations are real and not imagined or exxagerated but at the same time I hope they are. I dont want people to treat others badly but I know they will.
ReplyDeleteGregory Mantsios has also talked about how the media portrays class: http://hpn.asu.edu/archives/Nov98/0235.html. I'm frustrated by the lack of examples in both Mantsios and hooks, especially because examples abound. Emily brought up Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which is ripe for a class analysis. The lifestyle portrayed as desirable by this show is definitely an upper middle class one, even if some of the families need a large home because they have many members to house. That show is more about selling us that lifestyle (brought to you buy Sears and Ford) than it is about helping those in need.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Friends and Sex and the City were blatant examples of the erasure of class in television. How exactly would the characters in these shows live such posh lives in Manhattan on their salaries? I think we've seen a waning of working-class shows (hooks mentions Roseanne) in favor of ones bent on selling us the dream in the past decade or so. In short, I don't think television reflects the lives of most of its viewers.
And how about hooks on Good Will Hunting?:
"At all educational levels students from working-class backgrounds fear losing touch with peers and family. And that fear often leads to self-sabotage. To intervene on this nonproductive pattern we do need more testimony both in oral traditions and in writing of how working-class and poor folk can remain connected to the communities of our origin even as we work to improve our economic lot. Hollywood dramatized these dimensions of class struggle in the hit movie Good Will Hunting. In the film, the working-class buddy persuades his blonde, blue-eyed “genius” friend to go forward and enter the corporate world and make big money even if he must leave his friends behind. Ironically, since he is supported by his poor and working-class peers there is no logical reason he must leave them behind. After showing audiences the pleasures that can be shared when people cross class boundaries (our poor boy hero has a lover girl from a rich background with a trust fund), the movie offers the age-old message that attaining money, status, and class privilege is the only thing that matters and not loyalty to friends and comrades."
Now that's one way we didn't read the film!