Re: question on class

Paul Dillon (dillonph who-is-at northcoast.com)
Fri, 22 Oct 1999 12:43:23 -0700

Judy,

I'm wondering who the "us" is when you write: "I wonder, however, if the
notion of "false
>consciousness" -- i.e., not-middle-class -- gets us anywhere, "
Particularly in relation to all those selves you are "paying attention to."

Paul H. Dillon

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy Diamondstone <diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu>
To: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
Date: Friday, October 22, 1999 12:16 PM
Subject: Re: question on class

>A Can "working class" be seen in a
>>cultural way as in having community, needs, dreams etc. or is it solely
>>"false", "negative" or in opposition to the middleclass. Is "working
class"
>>simply an identity without content a product or construction of "civil
>>society" or is there something more.
>
>That's an excellent question! I wonder, however, if the notion of "false
>consciousness" -- i.e., not-middle-class -- gets us anywhere. I've been
>paying attention to similar questions in different literatures, which seem
>motivated in part by a concern for complexity and for parsing out different
>strata or time depths in sociocultural phenomena - like the distinction
>between the situated social self and the "cultural" or enduring self; or
the
>autobiographical self, the discoursal self, the writing self.... I'm
>inclined to see 'class' as positioning within a wider culture, a
perspective
>or bias towards certain content rather than other content available in the
>wider culture. Reverting once again to Blake "anything that's possible to
be
>believed [seen, imagined] is a portion of the truth [that ever elusive
>'true' consciounessness...]
>Judy
>
>
>Judith Diamondstone (732) 932-7496 Ext. 352
>Graduate School of Education
>Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
>10 Seminary Place
>New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1183
>
>