While speculating about the idea of social class in AIS, I was not surprised to hear many of my classmates admit that they believe they belong to the upper class. Not that necessarily all of them fall under the North Shore stereotype, but many of them need to have a pretty high income to afford to go to New Trier.
What interests me is how uncomfortable this subject oftentimes makes me feel; I can tell it makes some of my classmates feel the same way. Our teachers are aware of this discomfort as well, and are frequently reminding us that we don't have to share any information that might make us feel uncomfortable. However, from the class survey results in Mr.Bolos's blog post, I see that nobody from our class thought of themselves as lower class. Yet, there is still discomfort as we talk about our personal social status. This leads me to the conclusion that, while there is undoubtedly stigma in being considered lower class, there also seems to be stigma in being upper class.
Someone mentioned in class that people from the upper class are stereotyped as being snobby, which is probably why some of my classmates are wary to share. However, I don't believe that a fear of being called snobby is all that is causing a great deal of stigma associated with upper class. However, I'm not sure what else could contribute to this. Could it be simply that some of my classmates don't want to make others feel bad? But would it really make others feel bad if no one considered themselves a member of the lower class? Why else could this be such a touchy subject in our class?
Nice idea here, Kasia. Good in general to see you connecting class discussions with your discussions outside of school. You have become a more critical thinker. With this post, though, it'd be nice to anchor the idea with a text -- a specific comment or a printed text elsewhere. That would enable you to probe even more deeply.
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