Class Matters Workshops
Download this brochure for more information on Class Matters workshops.
If you're interested in hosting a workshop, please click here for a brochure, or contact me about booking an event.
Order Class Matters
Order Class Matters: Cross-Class Alliance Building for Middle-Class Activists by Betsy Leondar-Wright (New Society Publishers, 2005).
Press Coverage of CM
- Tim Harris interviewed me for Real Change: Read the interview
- Marc Cooper interviewed me for The Nation magazine's Radio Nation: Listen to the interview (MP3 file)
- Ben Merens interviewed me for Wisconsin Public Radio: Listen to the interview (Real Audio file)
What Do We Mean by "Class?"
Resources
Learning more about cross-class alliances...
Classist Comments
What's the most classist thing you ever heard someone say?
(I'm not talking about someone like Bill O'Reilly or your right-wing uncle. More specifically, what's the most classist thing you ever heard a liberal or progressive person say?)
Read five interviewees' answers — and my own.
Class and Other Identities
How do you experience class differently because of your race, ethnic group, religion, gender, age, or other identity? What class dynamics do you notice within your identity groups?
Here's how a few ClassMatters.org visitors answered those questions:
- White women from working-class backgrounds
- White middle-class women
- Middle-class women of color
- White male labor activists
- White middle-class activists
- Christians and class
And answers from the Class Matters book:
Reality Check: Who has how much money?
Many Americans guess wrong about how their income and assets rank among the population as a whole.
Compare your income
| Household income in 2002 | |
| Lowest fifth | $17,916 or less |
| Second fifth | $17,917 to $33,377 |
| Middle fifth | $33,378 to $53,162 |
| Fourth fifth | $53,163 to $84,016 |
| Top fifth | $84,017 or more |
| Top 5% | $150,002 or more |
Source: U.S. Census
Compare your wealth
| Average (mean) household net worth in 2001 | |
| Lowest fifth | Negative (more debts than assets) |
| Lowest 40% as a whole | $2,900 |
| Middle fifth | $75,000 |
| Fourth fifth | $215,300 |
| 81st to 90th percentile | $490,300 |
| 91st to 95th percentile | $937,400 |
| 96th to 99th percentile | $2,453,000 |
| Top 1% | $12,692,000 |
Source: Edward Wolff's analysis of Federal Reserve data.
"Like Parent, Like Child"
Recent studies find that there is less income mobility from one generation to another than previously believed.
| Parents' Income Quintile | Chance of children attaining each income level... | ...is this percent. |
| Top 20% | Top Quintile | 42.3% |
| Middle Quintile | 16.5% | |
| Bottom Quintile | 6.3% | |
| Middle 20% | Top Quintile | 15.3% |
| Middle Quintile | 25.0% | |
| Bottom Quintile | 17.3% | |
| Bottom 20% | Top Quintile | 7.3% |
| Middle Quintile | 18.4% | |
| Bottom Quintile | 37.3% |
Source: Thomas Hertz, American University, cited by Alan B. Krueger, "Economic Scene: The apple falls close to the tree, even in the land of opportunity," New York Times, November 14, 2002
"The data challenge the notion that the United States is an exceptionally mobile society. If the United States stands out in comparison with other countries, it is in having a more static distribution of income across generations with fewer opportunities for advancement."
— Alan Krueger