Classism and It’s Roll in American Schools

Classism is defined by Dictionary.com as any form of prejudice or oppression against people as a result of their actual or perceived social class. This is mostly pointed at richer folk that use their wealth as power to get what they want, but can also be from lower class individuals who are prejudice against all rich people because they believe they are where they’re at because they are put down by higher classes of people. Classism is generally perceived in two different categories, individual and structural. In this essay I will explain both of these and go in to detail on how they affect the individuals involved. Classism is often thought of as the brother to racism.

Individual Classism is when the prejudices or oppressions involved are pointed at a person by a single individual. To give a good picture of this think of a white lady living in a large house, nice cars in the driveway, and a beautiful lawn and garden in which she’s never touched, but has a Hispanic gardener come and do the work for her. Then when the gardener comes over she treats him like he’s garbage because his job is to make the dirt and flowers look pretty in her yard. He is in a much lower economic class than her, and for this reason she believes that she can say whatever she wants to her worker. I got this example from the television, where classism is often shown. In just a matter of hours I witnessed this same scene twice, in Desperate Housewives and in Malcolm in the Middle.

Individual classism is also seen just merely by making jokes about an economic class. For example, you’re so poor, when you go to KFC you have to lick other people’s fingers. Jokes like this might seem harmless, but in fact they can be very hurtful to people that are in a position where food is scarce because of affordability. These jokes often happen in the workplace where people in higher positions joke to those in lower positions, and are rarely handled appropriately.

Many children often feel the affects of...