Classy (stream of consciousness)
Been following some interesting blogs on the subject of class recently:
Here's a delightful example of class prejudice defying logic in academia.
(Publishing is often deliciously exclusive to the posh - so many internships are where one is expected to work for busfare for the privilege of the foot in the door and learning how to use a photocopier - two guesses as to who can and can't afford to do that...)
The always interesting k-punk on 'chavscum'. (for the most interesting part scroll down to July 8th where he quotes Fred Jameson: it is not 'particularly surprising that the system should have a vested interest in distorting the categories whereby we think class and in foregrounding gender and race, which are far more amenable to liberal ideal solutions (in other words, solutions that satisfy the demands of ideology, it being understood that in concrete social life the problems remain equally intractable).')
I have a vague plan to start a blog documenting all the now-fashionable ways in which working class people are mocked and sneered at in popular culture - Little Britain, Harry Enfield, Al Murray, etc. Guardian has done some interesting pieces on this which i now can't find except this.
Here's a delightful example of class prejudice defying logic in academia.
(Publishing is often deliciously exclusive to the posh - so many internships are where one is expected to work for busfare for the privilege of the foot in the door and learning how to use a photocopier - two guesses as to who can and can't afford to do that...)
The always interesting k-punk on 'chavscum'. (for the most interesting part scroll down to July 8th where he quotes Fred Jameson: it is not 'particularly surprising that the system should have a vested interest in distorting the categories whereby we think class and in foregrounding gender and race, which are far more amenable to liberal ideal solutions (in other words, solutions that satisfy the demands of ideology, it being understood that in concrete social life the problems remain equally intractable).')
I have a vague plan to start a blog documenting all the now-fashionable ways in which working class people are mocked and sneered at in popular culture - Little Britain, Harry Enfield, Al Murray, etc. Guardian has done some interesting pieces on this which i now can't find except this.
posted by Rowan Wilson at 10:05 am
5 Comments:
nice stream! (flood?) the art world's similar to publishing in that respect: young interns expected to stuff envelopes with publicity all day for free, their payment being the thrill of being near truth & beauty (or something). My favourite rant about this demeaning of manual labour in the artworld is the short testimony from Eric Buell, an art mover, in Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs - "The service entrances and elevators make you realise you are part of the lower class, and I guess in that the architects have succeeded in some way." Plus his totally convincing criteria of judgement:
"I have moved all the big-name white male artists of this century, and I would say that most of the art we move, if we art movers see it, we don't like. It all seems very old, very stale. Most artists, once they become successful, just seem to repeat themselves. And speaking for myself as a mover, not as an artist, it pisses me off when I break my back for something that was made with no sense of craft, or is needlessly heavy, or is too big and full of self-importance. I always like art that is small and light, even if it is crappy."
as for your spin-off blog, were you around on b3 when i posted this entry on some 'academic''s attempt to go native amongst the common folk? (scroll down to 'you poor people')
now why didnt that work?
any ideas on how to search previous blog entries, guys, btw?
I did see that piece - marvellous! Yet another demonstration of how miserable the Guardian has become (as one enters into ones 30s - well, on the way out of them, if honest - the rage of 'the Guardian is dead' takes the place of 'punk is dead').
More interesting stuff on the k-punk blog about the alienation felt by working class people who have moved into academe or other professional jobs surrounded by the middle class. Education alienates from original friends and family but 'fails' to adapt to new social circle.
Re: your art movers as exploited. I still feel ridiculous turning up to academic conferences discussing class and there are the staff serving tea and biscuits, cleaners cleaning up after you, etc. Middle class hand wringing? Contrast that with activist meetings where you clean up after yourself.
yep, that alienation of wc people in academia is a variant of Richard Hoggart's description of the 'scholarship kid' from Uses of Literacy. I'm always / still amazed by the lack of concern over access to jobs in the universities, and how the same class manages to reproduce itself relatively unhindered. I'd like to see the statistics on the numbers of academics who are children of academics / other educators (myself not wholly exempt from these groups, before you thinks this is a classic case of resentment..)
Yes, I also followed my parents into a low-paid career with few prospects and little social status...
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