privilege meme

[keryx]

Bold the ones that are true for you.
The list is based on an exercise developed by Will Barratt, Meagan Cahill, Angie Carlen, Minnette Huck, Drew Lurker, Stacy Ploskonka at Illinois State University. The exercise developers ask that if you participate in this blog game, you acknowledge their copyright.

Father went to college
Father finished college
Mother went to college
Mother finished college
Have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor
Were the same or higher class than your high school teachers
Had more than 50 books in your childhood home
Had more than 500 books in your childhood home [Was close, I think]
Were read children's books by a parent [But way more adult (not "adult" adult, you know, Stephen King and Dickens and stuff) books!]
Had lessons of any kind before you turned 18
Had more than two kinds of lessons before you turned 18 [Piano, harp, dance, art classes]
The people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively [I guess - I mean, white yuppies, sure.]
Had a credit card with your name on it before you turned 18
Your parents (or a trust) paid for the majority of your college costs (hahahahahahaha)
Your parents (or a trust) paid for all of your college costs
Went to a private high school [I didn't. But DID go to a private middle school, though on a scholarship]
Went to summer camp
Had a private tutor before you turned 18
Family vacations involved staying at hotels
Your clothing was all bought new before you turned 18 [Though I'm not positive on this one, I assume that it had to be.]
Your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them
There was original art in your house when you were a child [Does mine & my grandmother's count? Cause yes, then.]
Had a phone in your room before you turned 18
You and your family lived in a single family house
Your parent(s) owned their own house or apartment before you left home
You had your own room as a child [At one point, I shit you not, I had two. Navy housing gave us a townhouse with 3 bedrooms. So I was a mostly working-class kid with a PLAYROOM.]
Participated in an SAT/ACT prep course
Had your own TV in your room in High School
Owned a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College
Flew anywhere on a commercial airline before you turned 16
Went on a cruise with your family
Went on more than one cruise with your family
Your parents took you to museums and art galleries as you grew up
You were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family

One of the big class-based predictors of academic success is supposed to be the presence of books in your house. My parents both came from factory-working families, but were avid readers (mom read magazines, but was also in school for most of my lower school years, so lots of college textbooks, while dad read assloads of fiction). Both of my parents shared books with me, and I don't just mean the books themselves but conversation about them.

I don't know why I felt the need to point that out, except that a) I was always a big nerd and b) I am now an equally big yuppie. So the research is right in my case.

Comments

[keryx.livejournal.com]

But the question in this meme (which has other iffy ones as well - we're all responding to the book thing in part because that caught my eye in the first place) is about having a collection of books, owning books, and that does speak to economic luxury. If you assume that owning books is a luxury, that is.

There is another aspect of social - not economic so much - class that isn't addressed in this meme, and certainly colors the book thing. People who don't have the money for a lot of luxuries may still own books, but I think we as a society do consider those folk of a different "class" than those of similar economic standing who wouldn't prioritize art or reading. Artists, for instance, Teachers living off a single income. And yes, there's definitely an element of classism in that.

[crafting-change.livejournal.com]

book ownership is definitely a luxury.. but often one so tied up in classism that it is interesting to see that listed, but not... lets say a color tv. In theory 50 books could be far cheaper than even some used TVs.. which is why I wondered if it was completely tied to classism.

There is another aspect of social - not economic so much - class that isn't addressed in this meme, and certainly colors the book thing. People who don't have the money for a lot of luxuries may still own books, but I think we as a society do consider those folk of a different "class" than those of similar economic standing who wouldn't prioritize art or reading. Artists, for instance, Teachers living off a single income. And yes, there's definitely an element of classism in that.
And here is where I'm having the disconnect... to me anything other than looking at strict economics of the haves and have nots is classism. This I know has to be shaped by my poorer mother's side of the family wanting me to 'pass' as upper middle class, and using all the same arguments... that if I was 'well cultured' (in luxuries only usually afforded by the upper class) then I would 'pass' where as my father's side of the family full of college educated engineers did not have any books to speak of, enjoyed crass humor, and often debated such facts as 'bats are birds because they have wings.'

To me assigning any kind of acceptability to jobs because they are 'more noble' such as the artist over the garbage collector is entirely classist because society needs both of those jobs, without either society would collapse... so why is one more acceptable? Perhaps because it was more of an economic investment to be a teacher and 'take on' the vow of poverty via teaching rather than being poor and continuing to be poor.

[turbogrrl.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it is the classism thing that speaks to wanting to hold onto property, even if it's just books?

When I moved the rest of my stuff from my ex's house, one of the moving guys just stood in my apartment staring at my wall of books. And he perused them for a while, and asked me what I'd thought of this book or that, or offered his opinion because he'd read them. And then he was quiet for a while. Finally, he just shook his head and said "man, looking at this makes me wanna start keepin' my books. normally I just read 'em and then give them to someone. I figure I read it, I don't need to read it again. But this- this is amazing."

He was articulate. He'd read some of the same books I had. But he was definitely of a lower socio-economic class than me, and it had just never occurred to him to *keep* books. Books were disposable.