Class Dismissed [3/8]

[32peartree]

in England we have a soap opera called 'Eastenders' obviously set in the East End of London. The majority of the cast are white - which is a total anachronism - and every single character runs their own little business - market trader, cafe owner, publican etc. Nobody claims unemployment benefit or works has a cleaner or in a factory. Which suggests the BBC (Bourgeois Broadcasting Corporation) are deliberately disseminating a post-Thatcherite simulacrum of self sufficiency and aspiration.

[MultiSmartass1]

THE COSBY SHOW was about African-American Exceptionalism-an important thread in television shows.

Try finding shows about everyman AAs as lead characters.

What characters you will find are either professionals or criminals.

Either are up the ladder or down the ladder.

When you compare African-American characters to whites you will find a lack of range even in this topic of class.

Thus it easy to make an AA character outstanding, head of their class, etc than an average working joe.

[cscorulz]

Jesus Monkey I wish Ed Asner narrated faster!! I would love to sit down and get smashed with PePi up in a Baaawwston Bawww and that mother fu%ker Freddy Barnes character looks like a blast to rage with yall see that suit! Yeah!.. I love coming across drunk professors its always a treat.

[MultiSmartass1]

Good Times wasn't a bad show. Notice that there are no shows about African Americans in the Ghettos now. Apparently they don't exist-even though they do.

"Government rules can't be broken" "Unless you're running the government." True indeed.

[Qwofacenosehead]

I would have loved to see a class analysis of Ugly Betty.

[pedalero]

please elaborate

[TheWilliamcale]

i dont think the american dream WAS an illusion in 1900 my great grandfather was a share cropper and a steel worker

my sister is a doctor, my brother is a metalergical engineer, social moility works for people willing to work or did

i dont know if thats true anymore

[jubitoftw]

true. but you are still all part of the working class. ;-)

[TheWilliamcale]

depends on your definition

my definition the wroking class makes

10 dollars an hour if theiy are lucky

not 150 k plus a 401 k

thats-

[TheWilliamcale]

The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term lower middle class used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum and the regular middle class. There is considerable debate as to how the upper middle class might be defined.

[TheWilliamcale]

According to sociologist Max Weber the upper middle class consists of well-educated professionals with graduate degrees and comfortable incomes.

[TheWilliamcale]

:D $

[iglooworkshop]

But class consciousness is about understanding that even if all working class youth educate themselves to become doctors, the class society would still be the same...

[shananagans5]

It is still there. It just take hard work. It has allways taken hard work to achieve the "American dream". What has changed is peoples perception. Overall life is easier now. People do not expect to work as hard to move up so they view it as unachievable. People 80 or 100 yrs ago expected to have to work hard and were more willing to do it. If you put the effort in now you can still move up. Just do not expect it to be given to you. Nowadays people expect it or think it was given to others

[koala8]

@shananagans5

ur very naiive to think that...life is more complicated than just "working hard"...google "the meritocracy myth"...

[shananagans5]

@koala8 Well, you have to be smart about it too. You can't get a basic job and go day after day like a drone and expect to advance. You have to improve yourself, make an effort to move up in society. You just have to do it. The American dream, whatever that may be, is open for everyone that lives here to go after. You assume you can't do it and make no effort to get there, it's not going to happen. You can go as far as your talent and ability allow.

[koala8]

@shananagans5

of course you can do it if you have the opportunities and ur born into a circumstance which allows you to take advantage of those opportunities, giving you the choice to improve yourself..not everyone has this though, and the reasons for that is complex. i guess America is better than a third world country in civil war or something obviously...but things are not as simple as they seem and there are environmental factors that an individual cannot control

[shananagans5]

@koala8 Sure, some people are in a position to have it easier but it's open to anyone. You move if you need to, you go to school, you do what you need to do. You can't wait for things to fall in your lap. I guess there will be those that constantly make excuses as to why they can't do anything about their situation. That is not my business, just don't expect me to give them anything I worked for.