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

[Annalisa Aguilar]

Esteemed discussants,

I accept that there is a tired way of looking at the status quo that isn't productive. What the new cry is, is to be determined. I liked Occupy's manifestation while it lasted, if it is still viable, but only the peaceful manifestations.

Rather than get caught deep in the history, which is not to be dismissive of it, I wonder if it is possible to find new words and new meanings. My belief is that non-violence is the only viable approach. Of course may I refer to Gandhi and how he could wrangle liberation from an existing and very hardened class system. He did not rid the system, but it was a start. 

So for me such an enterprise would involve examining our discourse about class and where it becomes inflammatory, and then earnestly deciding (in collaboration) how to frame that in more peaceful and constructive forms. It's not to control speech, but to be mindful how our speech informs our thinking about it, which may also reveal how our thinking may be revealed in our speech. This seems very Vygotskian.

That is my perty novice take on it. 

Kind regards,

Annalisa

________________________________________
From: xmca-l-bounces+annalisa=unm.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces+annalisa=unm.edu@mailman.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Dr. Paul C. Mocombe <pmocombe@mocombeian.com>
Sent: Monday, December 8, 2014 9:07 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent

Annalisa,

The problem as I see it is this emphasis by liberals on equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution...if we are to survive, on this planet that is, we need a new rallying cry against capitalism and class differentiation.


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  10:50 PM  (GMT-05:00) </div><div>To:  </div><div>Cc: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu> </div><div>Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: NYT Op-Ed: Class Prejudice Resurgent </div><div>
</div>
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.