Class Matters
Skidmore College professor urges an examination of whether the academy ignores class in the push for diversity.
By Patricia Valdata
Ever since George Washington opted for the title of president rather than king, Americans have been uncomfortable with the idea of class distinctions. But Dr. Janet Galligani Casey says it’s time for liberal arts colleges to examine how current diversity rhetoric ignores class distinctions while the culture of the academy actively promotes movement from one socioeconomic class to another.
Galligani Casey, who grew up in a working-class neighborhood in Somerville, Mass., specializes in modern American literature and culture, in particular ideologies of class and gender and late 19th- and 20th-century leftist literature and working-class literature, especially of the depression. Her article “Diversity, Discourse, and the Working-Class Student” appeared in the July-August issue of Academe.
DI: What makes class different from the more visible kinds of diversity?
