Mon- What is Socioeconomic Class?

DUE DATES- ON TIME​

1. A Touchy Subject Annotations. DUE: Monday, 9/19, Start of Class.
   

DUE DATES- LATE (-10%)

1. College Essay FINAL/Cover Sheet. LAST DAY TO TURN IN: Monday, 9/19, Start of Class

---

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

1. Car Tally- Who can drive?  Who CAN’T drive?
2. Honors Meeting

Need to do an honors meeting at lunch this week.  Will check in with each of you doing honors to figure out the best day.

1. College Display Boards: TOMORROW.
   1. I will have you 3rd and 4th tomorrow- we will meet ALL IN MY ROOM!
   2. We go to Manna 5th period tomorrow.  BRING ME PERMISSION SLIPS!!!  Meet in Lori's room after lunch!

Key Takeaways:

1. What classes do we have in the US?
2. What kinds of things do we use to make distinctions between classes?
3. What is the difference between a generalization and a stereotype?

FRAME: In Kyle’s class, you are going to start to look at the economic side of inequality.  In my class, we’re going to attack this from more of a sociological angle, which means looking at social class, or socioeconomic class.  So this week, in addition to our field trips, we’ll be digging into what class is, how we divide them, and what markers are for different classes in the US.  NOTE: This can be really sensitive, and hard to talk about.  Ask you all to remain sensitive to the diverse experiences

Starter  (20 min)

1. What classes do you think we have in the United States?  How many?  What % of the US population do you think is in each class?  What would you use to define each class?
2. Now, look at this class diagram.
3. After looking at the diagram, what’s one big difference you notice between your brainstorm and the data you see in front of you?  What’s one thing about this diagram that surprises you or stands out to you?
4. Now, look at this chart of class perceptions. What do you notice about this chart?

Generalizations vs Stereotypes (15 min)

1. What’s the difference between a generalization and a stereotype? Talk in groups, then create a table on the board.
2. I lay out the differences.
3. Students develop examples for a specific group

Stereotypes Activity: What do we already think about class? (50 minutes)
Now that you understand the differences, we’re going to work on identifying what stereotypes we are carrying around with us about different classes--ultimately, we hope to be able to make generalizations, but we probably don’t have the data for that yet.  By examining and making visible these stereotypes, we will start to understand how we mentally define and categorize people.  To make this simple, we’re going to do this on only 4 classes:  Lower Class, Working Class, Middle Class, and Upper Class.

1. Individually: Write what class you think you belong to.  Consider how you decided this (what indicators did you use...area, jobs, accent, income, dress, education, other?)
2. Tape poster down to table, divide into 4 quadrants
3. Label each quadrant:
   1. Lower Class
   2. Working Class
   3. Middle Class
   4. Upper Class
4. In groups of 5-6, on poster, we’re going to create class descriptions.  These will be a mix of stereotypes and generalizations.  For now, don’t think too hard about this! Think about:
   1. What do they wear?  What are visible external markers of class?
   2. Where do they live?
   3. What are their houses like? Their neighborhoods?
   4. What are their hobbies?  What do they do for fun?
   5. How do they talk and act?
   6. What kinds of jobs do they have?
   7. What kind of education do they have?
   8. What bad or negative traits or habits do they have?
   9. What positive traits or habits do they have?
   10. What do they value?
   11. What skills do they have?
   12. Anything else?
5. 20 minutes to brainstorm and create.  On the poster can be words, phrases, descriptions, images, symbols
6. Now, go through your poster and put a G next to generalizations, and an S next to stereotypes. 
7. Take 5 minutes to walk around and look at the groups.  Take notes on…
   1. What similarities or patterns do you see?
   2. Where do you think these impressions and stereotypes come from?  
   3. Anything that is surprising, or that stands out?
   4. Where was the process uncomfortable?  Were there classes that were easier to do this activity for?  Why? 
   5. Did this make you realize anything about class in the US?  What?
   6. Is there anything on here that makes you uncomfortable?  That seems wrong or inaccurate?
8. Close:  We have now purged!  Our task for the rest of this project is to take these stereotypes, and figure out which can made into more accurate generalizations, which need to be thrown out, and ultimately to explore WHY these patterns and trends exist.    We will revisit these later, and perhaps update them.​