Following on our last post, here are some reflections from a series on ‘labels’ by Lisa McKenzie on her life as a working-class woman… with a PhD. For this she had to work hard at her education while also funding herself and her son through night work. Lisa’s research as a sociologist for 15 years has focused on class stigma, prejudice and stereotypes. That and her own personal experience have shown that working class women have carried the brunt of that class stigma. “Our education was bound by society’s expectation of us, which was a factory worker and mother, raising the generation of working class people.”
“Class sticks to you. It’s the way you walk, your accent, mannerisms, the way you dress and how you understand the world. As a working class woman you suffer 1001 different subtle (and not so subtle) micro-aggressions every day. You are seen as ‘other’ and less than from the day you are born, and you carry it with you.” This carrying of expectations and limitation of aspiration through the generations is another aspect of legacy which severely limits social mobility. Read the full article here.
