Category: Education

Feminism and Class Power

Hooks opens up chapter nine of Class Matters by discussing the two forms of Feminism. The reformist model of liberation demands equal rights for women without changing the current class struggle. Revolutionary feminism seeks fundamental change in the existing structures. And just as the “militant black liberation” struggle lost its appeal to ending classism once … Continue reading Feminism and Class Power →

Class and Race: The New Black Elite

Bell starts Chapter 8 of Class Matters talking about the suppression of historical scholarship on the contributions of African explorers, and the fact that most blacks trace their history in American to slavery while whites trace themselves to journeys of the privileged. Apparently the quintessential example of American colonizers – the pilgrims fleeing religious oppression … Continue reading Class and Race: The New Black Elite →

The Me-Me Class: The Young and the Ruthless

I have finally figured out what has been nagging me about Bell Hooks. I am reading her book for a master’s level class on Intercultural and International communications.  I was expecting this to be another well-researched book by an expert in the field. But it isn’t. Hooks isn’t an expert.  She is a writer and … Continue reading The Me-Me Class: The Young and the Ruthless →

Being Rich — An ad hominem argument

Even though citizens of this nation like to insist that the United States is a classless society, we all know that the rich live apart from the rest of us and that they live differently. hooks, bell (2012-10-02). Where We Stand: Class Matters (p. 70). Taylor and Francis. Kindle Edition. This quote is probably the … Continue reading Being Rich — An ad hominem argument →

Class and the Politics of Living Simply

The use of fashions in thought is to distract men from their real dangers. We direct the fashionable outcry of each generation against those vices of which it is in the least danger, and fix its approval on the virtue that is nearest the vice which we are trying to make endemic.  The game is … Continue reading Class and the Politics of Living Simply →

Coming to Class Consciousness

In chapter 2 of Class Matters the author discusses the issue of various desires. Whenever she would desire something she couldn’t have, her mother would never admit it was a lack of money. Instead it became something only someone stupid who didn’t care about themselves would want. She learned to squelch desires and fantasies to gain … Continue reading Coming to Class Consciousness →

Making the Personal Political: Class in the Family

The author of class matters starts her book out with an autobiographical chapter that could be a really entertaining story – if it didn’t turn into a sermon all the time. This chapter starts out with a description of the first house she remembers living in with her family – A rental block house with … Continue reading Making the Personal Political: Class in the Family →

Leadership for a Multicultural Age – Making the Commitment: Personal, Organzational, and Political

I expected the last section of the book to have another set of principles, but it is more like a manifesto of sorts, a preamble and summary. So rather than just quote and comment, I’ll let the conclusion speak for itself: WE ARE LIVING IN a fluid moment in history. Great cultural and generational shifts … Continue reading Leadership for a Multicultural Age – Making the Commitment: Personal, Organzational, and Political →