HHS 320 Ashford Classism Classifies People Based on Their Economic Status Response

Original HW Post

Social Class

Watch the video, Escaping Poverty,

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by Jacqueline Novogratz. Define the term, “classism,” and discuss it in relation to socioeconomic status (SES) as it pertains to the relative ranking by financial wealth within society. Discuss how social class impacts our ability to relate to those who are higher or lower than us in our roles as human service workers, in the delivery of human services.

*********************Please respond to 2 classmates******************************************

Support your comments with two references and respond to at least two of your classmates. 250 words total.

Classmate # 1

Charity Parker

Classism to me is just a mean way of division. Basically putting us into groups about a certain topic. Like money for instance . You can be rich, middle class, or poor. Our textbook describes four types of classism.

Downward classism- “ Prejudice and discrimination towards individuals and groups thought to be in a lower class” ( Schmidt, 2019).

Upward classism- “ Prejudicial attitudes towards people thought to be in a higher social group” (Schmidt, 2019).

Lateral classism- “Behaviors used to turn a member of one social class from thinking things that are not a part of the mainstream beliefs of the group” (Schmidt, 2019).

Internalized classism- “ Failure, depression, anger, despair, and/or frustration felt by an individual who does not have the ability to attain sufficient wealth or meet the demands of the economic culture”( Schmidt, 2019)

There are three indicators to Socioeconomic Status ( SES). Education, income and occupation. If you have a low SES status you most likely have a hard time providing for yourself or your family. You have a hard time buying food or paying household bills. I recently experienced this when the Covid outbreak first happened. I lost my job, and found it hard to even afford to get my children groceries for the house. SES does not simply just mean money its also education and occupation status. But oftentimes we do see a chain of these events taking place.

Without money.. there is no bills payed= which can result to bigger issues no house.

No money for school supplies = harder to get an education for the children.

Without proper education = results in not that great of career choice and income.

Someone with a low SES in education often struggle and can’t get into as great schools as someone that has a high SES. Or sometimes even dropping out and giving up.

The video Escaping Poverty was a tear jerker! What a huge role model to show that you can overcome anything! Jane never once gave up no matter how hard things got. We saw how she went to a low SES to being able to have her own growing business. She went from growing up poor and even having dealt with prostitution, to gradually saving money, getting a loan, getting a sewing machine..”( Novogratz,2009). And how she continued to grow from there! She grew to being able to provide for herself and is still seeing a growth in development and business. To think about all the hardships she overcame. Her husband leaving her alone with her children , experiencing some really dark hard times.. to feeling free and Independent providing for herself.. even when she has to leave and find new shelter. She now knows how to survive and grow.

Classmate # 2

Sally Craig

I understand Classism as just another form of prejudice, people are just classified by their social status. According to Schmidt (2019), there are four levels of classism that are downward, upward, lateral and internalized. Our socioeconomic status can be measured by our education or our income and this could determine how we are classified by others. If a person has a low socioeconomic status it can make it extremely difficult to change things for the better, There is most likely less community support and safety, much more stress is put on a person and it is harder for them to make positive choices when they are just trying to live and get by.

Social class may impact our ability as a human health care work because even though we educate ourselves and try to understand we can sometimes not grasp the harsh reality of the clients situation. We need to be empathetic towards them but if we have never been in such dire circumstances we may not fully understand their reality even though we are trying our best.

This video “Escaping Poverty” was extremely eye opening to me. This woman had no choice but to live in the slums of Nairobi in the Mathare Valley. “Nairobi is well-known for its informal rental shacks in informal settlements and, more recently, its poor-quality tenements, which

are imperiling the lives of low-income tenants”( Mwau, B., & Sverdlik, A. 2020). No matter what my problems have been I could never imagine having to live a life like Jane did just to make it through each day. She still overcame and bettered herself and even with all her struggles she was grateful and still wanted to still help people. This woman was so inspiring she had hardly no opportunity at all to better herself but managed to take back her life and be grateful for what she had accomplished.

Mwau, B., & Sverdlik, A. (2020). High rises and low-quality shelter: rental housing dynamics in Mathare Valley, Nairobi. Environment & Urbanization, 32(2), 481.

Novogratz, J. (2009). Escaping poverty. [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/talks/jacqueline_novogratz_on_an_escape_from_poverty.html

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Schmidt, J. (2019). Social and cultural foundations of counseling and human services: