happy turkey day to all

http://vimeo.com/32345674
Here's a quick video of Michael Zweig speaking at OWS. To view it you must sign up once you open the link, but its easy to do. He makes a distinction here between wealthy people and people with power. It made me think of Brian's blog of last week on the Candy Apple. Everyone should read his post and weigh in.

Assignment for next week.
Well, .... the first part of our class will focus on Marx, Wright, Weber and Thompson. So read or reread what was due for last week! and think about how they address the same set of issues.

Then we will move to housing issues. Timmer, Oliver & Shapiro, Currie. Reading guides that underscore key issues but also make comparisons.

Vuews from other economists

Post from Amanda.
Well, here is the IMF saying that there is a path to recovery which differs from the video that we watched in class which told us that the recovery would be very long...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVFZmgorrMM. This economist gives an hour plus talk on how we have gotten to where we are. Some of the topics he hits on are housing prices, interest rates, and high unemployment rates along with the banking collapse (which was a secondary cause) ...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awJZQoL0r4E.

What do you think? Comments please.

Class on Nov 22.

Below are assignments for next week. If you hate reading guides that much then simply take notes on what you think are the key elements and the supporting arguments. The overriding issue here is what is class and class consciousness and how does it develop.

Rius, Beginners guide to Marx (cartoon format)

Thompson, Making of English working class (4 pages from intro)

Wright, Class Counts

Weber, Class, Status and Party

Extra points for anyone who finds another economist's perspective on the recession. You can post it for us and offer some comparison.

Women and Class

Assignments for next week. Don't forget those onerous reading guides.

Ransby “Katrina, Black women,…” (ER)

Luce & Brenner, “Women & Class: what has happened in forty years?” (ER)

Minimum wage increase: a working woman's issue

http://www.epi.org/publication/issuebriefs_ib133/

Working mother's in a double bind

http://www.epi.org/publication/briefingpapers_124/

http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2005.htm

Assigned reading for Oct 25 and Nov 1

Oct 25 Living and Crossing Class

Jensen, “Crossing the Great Divide,” ER; bell hooks “Class Consciousness" ER; 4 short stories from Without a Net: the female experience of growing up working class; Smith, Values http://members.aol.com/lsmithdog/bottomdog/WCValuespost.htm ;PLU “don’t get above your raisin'’’ video

Nov 1 Work Mike Rose, The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker, Intro, ch 1, ch 5, 7, 8, conclusion. Please remember to spend time with the introduction first. Take notes - a version of a Reading Guide for each chapter to remind yourself of key issues.

Think about some of the 'manual labor' jobs you have had and how they involve skill and cognition.

oh,,,, and those class diaries?

Where are those class diaries? Don't tell me that our class hasn't made you think twice about things your family or friends say? about what you watch on tv? about people or events you encounter in your day?

Occupy Wall Street Movement

I missed our class tonight. Sure you all feel the same!
So... the task for the week is to spend a minimum of an hour and a half investigating the Occupy Wall Street Movement. I've posted some articles, videos, websites and opinion pieces on the OWS. This is just a sampling and I urge you to find more, send me the sites, or the articles and I will post them. How do the protesters see class? how is it defined here? reproduced? what does the opposition have to say? What are the solutions? Do the solutions pinpoint structures or systems that we have discussed? What do you think? What are your questions? What do you think of the human microphone? Looking forward to these posts.

There is also a demo this Saturday at Kennedy Plaza.

Equalizing or Reproducing Class: Education

Readings - Anyon, Gorski, Laureau, Engel.
Consider your own experiences as you read this week. Pick a quote and / or main idea from two texts as a way to examine and consider your own educational experiences from a class lens. This reflection on your own schooling should not be a telling of stories but a substantive discussion.

Individualism or Socioeconomic Structures?

Check your email for a slight change in readings! 2 texts are moved to later in the sem. 2 added for Tuesday. Send me your ideas for the first assignment.

The topic for this week is the debate on the origins of class position, or the factors at play in mobility and opportunities. Is class position determined by Individualism or Socioeconomic Structures and Policies? We've already talked about this in relation to earlier topics but I'd like to directly name and discuss the very different arguments in the debate about the presence of class. And name the different policies.

For this week's draw on a quote or two - brief! not a full paragraph - that struck you in relation to this topic and use it to begin a discussion.

What is the value of a class analysis? 9/20

For this week's post, pull a quote or two from the articles and use that to discuss the value of a class analysis. Why should we bother with looking at the world, history, our disciplines, through a class lens? What do we see differently? Is that important? How does this change your thinking? These should be substantive and draw on the texts.

Readings for this - Chang, Zweig, Zandy (which you read for last week) and 2 new additions -
http://monthlyreview.org/2006/07/01/hurricane-katrina-the-race-and-class-debate. I will email you another article on New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. Note: these last replace the Simpson article which is no longer available online. Thanks to Sara for figuring that out.

Our next class will tackle this subject and 'consequences of inequality'. DeFreitas, Tilly, Life Chances are the readings for that

Remember that I will collect your reading guides on all the articles at the end of class. They are intended to better prepare you for discussion. They should include main idea and argument but also things you like, don't, don't get, want to argue about.......

Your posts have been thought provoking. The rest of you should look at those of your peers.

Redefining Cultural Capital

I did a terrible job tonight explaining cultural capital. It is an important concept that we will carry through the semester. Here is a better explanation. Does this make more sense?

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, working with various colleagues, developed the concept of cultural capital in the early 1960s in order to help address a particular empirical problem—namely, the fact that “[e]conomic obstacles are not sufficient to explain” disparities in the educational attainment of children from different social classes (Bourdieu & Passeron 1979 [1964], 8). Bourdieu argued that, above and beyond economic factors, “cultural habits and…dispositions inherited from” the family are fundamentally important to school success (Bourdieu & Passeron 1979 [1964],14). ... Bourdieu maintained that culture shares many of the properties that are characteristic of economic capital. In particular, he asserted that cultural “habits and dispositions” comprise a resource capable of generating “profits”; they are potentially subject to monopolization by individuals and groups; and, under appropriate conditions, they can be transmitted from one generation to the next (Lareau and Weininger 2003).
http://www.brockport.edu/sociology/faculty/Cultural_Capital.pdf [italics, bold are mine]

Prep for 9/13 class.

Our topic this week is what is class and why is it not visible.

The readings by Zweig, Bourdieu and Zandy redefine the nature of class and while
Mantios and Zandy touch on these they also continue the conversation to how class is cloaked.

Since it's Saturday it seems like very short notice to ask you to blog on these. I will expect you to email the reading guides you have done on these texts. Also, when you have a moment (I can hear you all screaming!) check out the left hand menu Class Matters in the News. There are several charts on economics that you will find interesting.

Zweig, Ch 1 (ER); Zweig – 6 reasons (ER) http://www.monthlyreview.org/0706zweig.htm (not #3, 4); Mantsios “Media Magic” (ER); Bourdieu “Cultural Capital” (ER); Zandy, “Decloaking Class” p 119-125, handout