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there is considerable and quite brutal class stratification in the states.
one of the characteristics of american class warfare is spatial segregation.
an instrument of this class warfare is local control of funding for public education, which makes of it a mirror of the class structure.
another characteristic of american class warfare is a hegemonic discourse that requires people say there isn't class warfare in america.
this is not the same as a political divide that separate the right from other people.
that works more along the lines of how one thinks about or analyzes class stratification, whether one look, say, for institutional factors or decides that poverty is the fault of the poor so fuck em.
with that said...
A few questions to get the conversation moving:
Have you lived in two or more very different parts of the country?
boston, suburban philadelphia, upstate new york, san fransisco, paris, philadelphia, chicago, a small coastal town in massachusetts
Have you moved from one side of town to another?
yes.
If yes, what socioeconomic differences have you noticed along the way?
everyplace has a particular geography of class.
philly's was in block by block, so the range was visible.
chicago more segregated in every sense.
the bay area still more (think east palo alto)
the geographies of class are pretty complex internally as well.
so there's alot that could be said about any given community.
Are there specific differences you have noticed from one community to another?
see above.
Do you feel that you are dissimilar from those living in the next town or neighborhood?
they are there. i am here. when i go there there is here and when they come here here is here. so no. not really. as human beings? wait. i'm confused.
Do you think technology is deepening these differences, or smoothing them?
depends on the technology you're talking about
99% of the households in the united states have a teevee.
so there's a technology access to which cuts across class that creates division because of the stupid ways it treats information and, by extension, people. but on the other hand, if everyone is a Consumer, everyone is the Same.
but i assume you're talking about computer and net access, yes?
How much change do you expect to see in regards to these inequalities within your lifetime?
well, the past 30 yeas have seen the most radical concentration of wealth yet recorded anywhere thanks to conservative economic policies. so anything is possible.
but i think that unless politics changes and people wake up to the fact that class stratification is class war and is, most of all, unnecessary, is the result of policy and/or organization choices, inequality will continue to get worse.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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