My idea is to give each student a research project :
Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6ZS91cqpa8
famous working class celebs: Cheryl cole, nDubz
people like us teaser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU5MtVM_zFs
People like us
http://www.pbs.org/peoplelikeus/resources/index.html
centre for working class
http://cwcs.ysu.edu/teaching/teaching-class
http://www.caci.co.uk/acorn2009/acornmap_ext.asp
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=All+White+in+Barking&aq=f
http://chavstest.com/quiz/index.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav (read article references)
British style genius
Newspapers compare Daily Star with Daily Telegraph? Description:
Considering that one of the ways social class operates is through media representations, it is useful for the students to see various portrayals in newspaper articles and photographs of working class and middle class people, celebrities, and the royal family. It also allows an analysis of how gender, ethnicity and religion intersect with class within representations.
How I’ve used it:
After a few introductory classes to sociology, gender and class theories, I will get the students to bring a selection of newspapers to class (in the UK, there are many different types of newspapers – tabloids, broadsheets, regional newspapers – from both left and right positions). Working in pairs or groups, they can analyse the newspapers and cut out a few articles and photos in each newspaper. They can compare how different classed people are represented in varying ways – looking at celebrities and the royal family in particular will be useful. At the next class they can present what they found and show some examples. This opens up conversations about UK class categories, connotations of words and slang, and possible effects of representations on the lives of working class people.
Vicky Pollard, Hyacinth Bucket and Lauren Cooper
http://www.openmagazine.co.uk/small-screen/article/chavs-on-tv/
www.upmystreet.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structure_of_Britain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltPxz4PinDA compare with http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Madness+our+house&aq=f
Strategy: Class quiz with photos
Submitted by: Samantha Maziarz, English, Youngstown State University
Description:
1. Collect about 10-12 photographs of different people. Some should be people who are unknown; some should be of people who are well known, whether locally or nationally (but not of anyone present). This should include a good mix of athletes, celebrities, people in the news, local characters, etc.
2. Space the photos apart and hang them around the room. Give each student a stack of Post-its (or a piece of chalk if the photos are hung on blackboards, or tape up pieces of paper near the photos).
3. Instruct the students to walk around the room and observe the photos silently. They will then write on a Post-it note what class they believe the person in the photo belongs to. They will affix their “vote” next to the respective photo and take down additional notes in their notebooks as to why they made the decision they did.
4. The answers will be shared and discussed with the class.
Reflection:
I believe this exercise would get students thinking about their own definitions and stereotypes about class. This will reveal to the instructor and to the students how it is that they perceive class. Explaining the reasoning behind their choice reveals what different things students believe to be related to class, whether it’s race, education, occupation, lifestyle, material possessions, appearance, etc. Many ideas can be explored, such as:
How much of class is visible? How much of it has to do with style, condition and brand of clothing, hair, make-up, teeth, glasses, etc.
How much of class has to do with money? Does receiving a million dollar paycheck constitute an elevation in class for a previously working-class athlete? Does Bruce Springsteen still count as working class?
How do we each arrive at our own definitions of class? How do our perceptions vary from the person sitting next to us? Why do we think that is?
Resource: bell hooks’ Where We Stand: Class Matters
Submitted by: Katherine Fusco, English, Vanderbilt University
Citation:
hooks, bell. Where We Stand: Class Matters. New York: Routledge, 2000.
Description:
Students should come to class having read the chapter “The Me-Me Class: The Young and the Ruthless.” hooks’ chapters are very short (this one is less than ten pages), so you may want to assign more than one chapter per class meeting. Spend time soliciting answers to the following questions and write students’ responses on the board:
1) What are the necessities for living a healthy/happy/stable life? You may want to discuss how the class is defining necessities, prompting them to think about categories like employment, healthcare, education, etc. You might also spend time discussing how the class wants to define a happy/stable/healthy/etc. life.
2) What class markers does hooks describe young people pursuing? What others can you think of? (iPods, Louis Vuitton bags, Hummers, etc.)
3) Which of these class markers match up with the necessities we have on the board?
4) Why do we focus on these markers when discussing class? Why does the media?
5) How do these markers obscure other class issues? (You may want to remind your students about the necessities that they have listed)
How have you used it?
I envision this lesson occurring during the first half of a semester, but not during the very first weeks. Students will need to have some understanding of the structural issues involved in class formation in order to be able to list complex answers to the first discussion question
(for example: job security and benefits, not just food and water). Students will be better able to participate in this discussion if they have had some previous experience talking about class myths and stereotypes. This discussion should help students to understand some of the key issues at stake for the working class (healthcare, education, housing) at the same time that it allows them to critique consumerism in the United States. This lesson plan also works to dispel some of the stereotypes that students believe about the working class’ spending: that the working class buys big TVs instead of dental care, etc. Students may resist this because some of these myths are deeply ingrained, but teachers can ease this difficulty by turning a critical eye at the media: why are these the stories we see on the news; why is it “good” for sitcoms to make jokes about this, etc.
Economic – what jobs
political – influential people who are working class could be celebrity athletes and singers, politicians
Culture – education, class, taste
Values, ideals -
Class Dismissed – How TV frames the working class
The welfare system – when did it arrive and how does it affect why people don’t find it worthwhile to get a job
Watch Class Dismissed and impart important ideas from this programme
What is the underclass ?