Our sociology class was asked to watch a video called "People Like Us". In the beginning of the video a few people were shown pictures of other people and asked to describe what they saw. The first picture was an elderly man wearing a sleeveless shirt and shorts. The people who saw the picture thought he was a redneck. The next picture was of a man and woman. The people who described them saw them as an upper class couple. It's easy for us to judge others by how they dress and look, we do it all the time even though we don't mean to. There is a saying that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, and that's what we should all think about.
The narrator said, "we separate ourselves with people who don't fit in our group" and it's true. He also said that "America is a country divided by class", and "class is everywhere yet it's hard to see". No matter what country you're in, there is a division of classes even if it's not the same type of division. As children from Pre-K to middle school, there is no division until they grow older and go into high school. I believe when you get to high school is when you start to notice things about yourself and others and that's when you separate into different groups or classes. In the video, Joe Green who is a satirist, was right when he said that "we fear criticism".
A community in Burlington, VT was divided because of which supermarket to build in the downtown area. People voiced their opinions in a community hearing. Some were asked what kind of bread they eat. It was said that the higher the class you're in, the less white bread you eat..meaning that people in the high class don't eat white bread, they eat artisan bread or something in that nature. The supermarkets that were vying for the spot downtown was a giant supermarket called Shaw's, and an organic store called Onion River Coop. Most of the people thought it was more expensive in the organic store and didn't want it. The City Council voted 12 to 2 for Onion River Coop to get the spot. Shortly after, the coop began stocking 99 cent white bread.
Some of the people to me were funny of what they said how they were brought up. A woman who was an african american in the middle class was told when growing up that she should not associate with the people at the very bottom because "they are poor white trash" and not to let them touch her because they're not clean. It was said that the people at the top were said to have three things: money, a family name, and an attitude. The people belonging in the WASP community is an example of this. WASP stands for White, Anglo, Saxon, Protestant. Examples of what someone in WASP does is that the men come together to do "piping". Other examples is that they have historic houses, and that WASPS think they do everything better, they are smarter, and are more cultured.
Mostly everybody thinks they belong in middle class. I believed also that I belonged in middle class. Before my wife started to work again, our class was actually a working class. Now that there is another income in the household, we're back in the middle class. Towards the end of the video was a part called Tammy's Story. I felt sorry for Tammy and her family. Tammy was what many would call belonging at the very bottom. She lived in a trailer with junk around her yard because no one wanted to lift a finger to clean it up. One of her sons is embarrassed of her and doesn't want to let his friends see her because of the way she dresses. He thinks he's in a better class than her. Tammy doesn't want to be on welfare and wants to provide for her family even though she walks 10 and a half miles to work in Burger King. People think their life is hard but they don't realize that it is harder for many other people.
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