Reading: Barbara Jensen “Reading Classes”

How is class translated into culture? What are cultures’ roles in keeping class in place? What is the psychology of moving from working class to professional-middle class life, when it can be fraught with questionable – or even cruel – consequences for the individuals who actually do “make it”? Barbara Jensen’s new book, “Reading Classes: On Culture and Classism in America” explores the anguish caused by class in our society, identifying classism, or anti-working class prejudice, as a central factor in the reproduction of inequality in America. Jensen is a counseling and community psychologist who has taught college courses in psychology and sociology for 20 years. She helped build the field of working class studies since its inception in 1995, and was a founder of the Working Class Studies Association, of which she is currently president-elect.