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ABOUT CLASS ACTION Class Action inspires action to end classism. We raise awareness, facilitate cross-class dialogue, support cross-class alliances, and work with others to promote economic justice.
WHY CLASS ACTION? A stream of data, reports, books and analysis underscore the many ways in which the U.S. is pulling apart along the lines of income, wealth, savings, and economic opportunity. Other analysts warn of the dire consequences of this growing economic divide on our democratic institutions, economy, public health, and civic life. So why do we tolerate such inequalities in our midst? Why does the wider U.S. culture appear impervious to concerns about escalating inequality, despite the voluminous evidence? For almost two decades, the founders and leaders of Class Action have been working to educate the wider public about the dangers of the growing economic divide. This work was important in raising awareness and popularizing the problems resulting from income and wealth inequality. But as the economic trends continued to worsen, Class Action's founders gauged that something was missing. Class Action's perspective is that inequality will not be addressed in the political arena until we overcome deeply entrenched and powerful myths about class in the U.S.. At the root of our nation's tolerance for high levels of inequality are a set of attitudes, beliefs and confusions that we characterize as "classism." Combined with racism, classist myths of meritocracy and deservedness justify inequality in simplistic ways. The nature of class privilege is particularly obscured in U.S. culture. We characterize our society as meritocratic, yet in practice the distribution of rewards is still deeply shaped by race and class biases. We profess to be a society with equality of opportunity, yet hereditary family wealth, status and networks provide massive advantages for a limited few. Like the feminist movement's history of changing attitudes about gender and sexism, the work to dismantle classism and inequality happens at all levels of the society and culture, from the very personal to the halls of Congress. But a critically missing first stage involves unpacking the mythology of class in our personal lives and institutions. The first step of change involves consciousness raising. Class Action works at many levels to expose the impact of classism in society and works for change so that the promises of our democracy and opportunity are accessible to all. We put classism, which plays out in invisible ways and without a distinct vocabulary, in the center. Classism is the missing "ism." Class Action believes issues of class clearly intersect with every form of oppression. However, ignoring the role of class has contributed to weakened movements for social and economic justice. Successful efforts at creating a fairer and sustainable society must be broad based and include people of every race, age, gender, and geographic area -- and underscore the fact that class matters. |
featuring folk artists
Building Bridges Across the Class Divide