Course 3401 Blog

People who aren't white are given some privileges of whiteness as they acquire more wealth. It's all about power and privilege, but whiteness is still the normative category. Therefore, white people, whether or not they have wealth, are awarded this privilege by the fact that they are already white. They do not face the same barriers that nonwhite people will have to face. If they lose their wealth, they generally will still be awarded these privileges.

definitely agree with you on that one. Now all we have to do is get the rest of america to understand.

I agree with your statement people really do believe that they are in a class that they do not belong to. Like Professor Warren mentioned you have to look at what you have that has value. Most people do calculate there cars and as you mentioned they do not calculate the amount of debt they have in credit cards. You are correct so many people are focusing on status (keeping up with the Jones').

Until the bottom fell out of the economy I believed that people were well aware of their social status. Now people that were considered upper middle and middle class have suddenly joined the ranks of classes they felt that they had moved away from, they are now considered lower middle class and just plain poor. The equity that they clung to in their homes was stolen from them and now they actually owe more for their homes than the homes are worth. So you may live in a exclusive neighborhood, but do you financially still belong there is the question. Many will attempt to hold on as long as possible but will eventually slip through the cracks as the middle class as a whole ceases to exist.

I concur with social stratification and I respect your thoughts. Not everyone is content with your growth and development. It maybe that some families/ or specific group of people get intimidated when others advance. Being part of what many people would call a minority family. I have seen many families not support individuals who plan or are getting an education within their families. It's as if some people are afraid of change or don't think they deserve to advance in life. In my personal experience I came back around people in my family and they didn't want me around because my mind set was different and I didnâ??t want to live in poverty for life. I was shunned by most and no longer a black person, but was now white. I'm curious to know how getting an education makes one race change. In my opinion jealousy in many families arises from not wanting someone else to have more than another. We donâ??t get an opportunity to choose our birth place. So, if an individual is born in poverty or a class they would like to advance to they would have to work very hard. Itâ??s easier said than done, but possible. On another note, after working hard some people still face a glass ceiling. It is an invisible barrier that prevents people mostly women and minorities from advancing, or getting gainful employment. I wonder who would want to prevent women and minorities from advancing, or getting gainful employment. Do women actually prevent other women from advancing in the workforce? I also grew up in poor conditions. I have been homeless and went to bed with nothing to eat for days. At one time in my life, I thought we were rich, when we had a roof over our head and food to eat every night, even though it was mostly soup and bread. We lived day to day, week to week. My parentâ??s social stratification was in a poor area and I was born in a poor area too. Also, my grandparents were poor. Some people would called that a generational curse, but in class we call it social stratification and it sounds more professional. A generational curse sounds judgmental.

I could agree with this social stratification business if everyone had an even chance, but since they do not it is hard to buy into it. There is always a invisible elephant in the room.

I agree I love the fact about the educational purpose for the children.

I was talking about this yesterday, and a woman got really mad at me for suggesting that our politicians are richer than we can imagine and that big companies routinely write and buy laws. I didn't know anyone actually believed that someone like Romney understands what it's like to worry about money or a job, or that the average American has just as much voice in the government as the fat cats at Bank of America. Her optimism completely blew my mind.

Some of them are rich but not all. The big companies do write out some of our laws but they do leave some room for the little people.

Per the below Commercial Appeal link Silicon Ranch, the company owned by former Tennessee governor Phil Bredesen, is financing construction of the $4.3 million facility and will own it.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/jan/11/work-underway-new-solar-farm-near-agricenter-memph/?print=1 Seems the old crafty former Tennessee Governor has figured out a way to keep the home fires burning literally with the help of TVA subsidies (federal wealthfare).
http://www.cleanenergyauthority.com/solar-energy-resources/what-is-a-megawatt-and-a-megawatt-hour/ 12 cents per kilowatt hour produced sounds like this to me:
.12 * 1000kWh or (1MW) = $120.00 an hour to heat 200 homes which further equates (in my reasoning) to about a $1.66 per household per hour that that in fact will be subsidized by the feds. My guess is the actual heating cost passed on to the very lucky 200 residents to receive this form of energy will be considerably less than the great majority or Shelby County home owners. Poor Phil.
Yeah I would have to say itâ??s time to go GREEN and or move to south side Walnut Grove - just sayingâ?¦