[Xmca-l] Re: NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent

[Annalisa Aguilar]

Hi Mike,

Why is this the case that 1930s is "non-appropriatable" by later generations? Is it because the stories are not told and shared? McCarthyism? I'm not understanding.

I have a hard time accepting the difficulty groking of it. There are people who are at a gross disadvantage because of a lack of opportunities and lack of advantages. 

What is there to grok? It is a sincere question, and not meant to be inflammatory in any way.

Perhaps it is not knowing HOW to discuss it. That is my guess. But there has to be a way to discuss it. Where there is a will there is a way.

Kind regards,

Annalisa

________________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of mike cole <mcole@ucsd.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 8, 2014 8:42 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent

The centrality of class in human relations and psychological development is
a topic that cannot get enough attention, Paul and Annalisa. Its one lesson
of the 1930's in the US (at least) that appears non-appropriatable by later
generations. Or to quote Greg, people have an awfully hard time groking it.
mike

On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 6:11 PM, Dr. Paul C. Mocombe <pmocombe@mocombeian.com
> wrote:

> Class is an unspoken topic in America's protestant social structure of
> class inequality.  William Julius Wilson caught hell for his 1970s book,
> "the declining significance of race," for making the argument that race is
> becoming less important vis-a-vis class in determining the life chances of
> black folk.
>
>
> Dr. Paul C. Mocombe
> President
> The Mocombeian Foundation, Inc.
> www.mocombeian.com
> www.readingroomcurriculum.com
> www.paulcmocombe.info
>
> <div>-------- Original message --------</div><div>From: Annalisa Aguilar <
> annalisa@unm.edu> </div><div>Date:12/08/2014  8:50 PM  (GMT-05:00)
> </div><div>To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> </div><div>Subject: [Xmca-l]  NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent
> </div><div>
> </div>Hello esteemed discussants,
>
>
> I am not normally a fan of David Brooks of the New York Times, but
> sometimes he really surprises me. This is one of those times:
>
>
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html
> <
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/02/opinion/david-brooks-class-prejudice-resurgent.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&contentCollection=opinion&action=click&module=NextInCollection&region=Footer&pgtype=article
> >
>
>
> It has been my sense that we (as a culture, i.e., my American culture to
> which he refers) are more afraid to discuss class then we are to discuss
> race, and now it has become even harder, apparently.
>
>
> I particularly took to this paragraph:
>
>
> "Widening class distances produce class prejudice, classism. This is a
> prejudice based on visceral attitudes about competence. People in the
> "respectable" class have meritocratic virtues: executive function, grit, a
> capacity for delayed gratification. The view about those in the untouchable
> world is that they are short on these things. They are disorganized. They
> are violent and scary. This belief has some grains of truth because of
> childhood trauma, the stress of poverty and other things. But this view
> metastasizes into a vicious, intellectually lazy stereotype. Before long,
> animalistic imagery is used to describe these human beings."
>
>
> Kind regards,
>
>
> Annalisa
>
>
>


--
It is the dilemma of psychology to deal with a natural science with an
object that creates history. Ernst Boesch.