Notes from the Editors The essays in this issue are of two sorts. The one we present first focuses on grassroots actions of the you-are-the-leaders-you’ve-been-looking-for persuasion. Mostly. Their focus tends to be on doings in the US: the black community, bingo workers, teachers and unions, meritocracy (an analytic counterpoise dealing with the wealthy), a grassroots … [Read more...] about Notes from the Editor [LT3]
social class
Why It’s Important to Understand Cultural Capital
Gary Olson When categorizing my class background, I’ve invariably replied “working class” but in truth that was more aspirational than factual. My father was either unemployed or underemployed and died of a heart attack at age 46 while working as a night shift orderly at a veteran’s hospital in Fargo, ND. I was 12-years-old, with a 7-year-old brother, and thereafter our … [Read more...] about Why It’s Important to Understand Cultural Capital
Meritocracy Is a Lie
by Gary Olson In 2017, Sociology Professor Rachel Sherman wrote Uneasy Street: The Anxiety of Affluence, a book which drew upon 50 in-depth interviews with Uber-wealthy New Yorkers in order to obtain a picture of just how they perceived their status. Sherman found that her interviewees, all in the top 1-2 percent of income or wealth or both, had thoroughly imbibed … [Read more...] about Meritocracy Is a Lie