Social Class on Campus: Theories and Manifestations
by Will Barratt (9781579225735)

This is at once a playful text with the serious purpose: to provide students with the theoretical lenses to analyze the dynamics of social class. It will appeal to students both because of its playfulness, and because it uses the college campus as a microcosm for observing and analyzing the concept of class, and does so in a way that will prompt the student to reflect on her or his location in the continuum of class, and understand how every member of the campus community helps co-construct social class. These characteristics will engage students in their learning. Will Barrett starts from the premise that there is more than one way to study any idea; and that the more tools we use to examine a concept, the more fully we understand it in all its complexity and ambiguity- a process that will stimulate students' critical thinking. To illustrate salient features of class on campus, he introduces five fictional European-American women - Whitney Page, Louise, Misty, Ursula, and Eleanor - and also includes the real stories of students who represent a diversity of backgrounds.This refreshing and original book examines social class as an individual issue rather than a macroeconomic or social force. Exploring sixteen models of social class, from social class as identity to social class as culture, Barratt provides some thought provoking challenges to the reader.Social class is often neglected or ignored as an important issue in the lives of students. The book provides the reader with a language for class, theories of class that are quite different from standard economic and sociological models, and examples of the manifestation of class, all toward the end of helping the reader have more agency in working with this difficult and challenging concept. This book is written for students going to college for the first time, and for students in classes exploring multicultural issues in contemporary society. Consequently each chapter has a suggested experience for the reader to help readers engage class personally, reflection questions to explore both thinking and feeling about class, and class discussion questions. The e-book edition is enhanced with videos created by the author. These elements can also be accessed free on the Stylus Web site.

USD $75.00

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