what is the value of a class analysis?

The reasons why we should bother with looking at the world, history, our disciplines, through a class lens is because it allows us to see things in a different way. Sometimes we’ll look at something on TV in one way, and then looking at what’s on TV in a class lens, everything looks completely different. It opens your eyes more to what’s really going on in the situation, and what the media is hiding.

In the article, Six Points of Class by Zweig, he discusses in the article about the victims of Katrina. Zweig says its about,” rediscovery of race and class in America.” How media puts its own slant on reality. After Hurricane Katrina, blacks were not the only ones who were devastated from the hurricane. There is a large population of whites, working class people that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. “ Eighty-five thousand whites are among the working poor in New Orleans-area labor force. By contrast, there are about sixty-five thousand minorities.” When President Bush made cuts “ It hit equally hard at black and white communities of construction workers.” The decisions he made regarding section eight housing equally hurts black and whites.

It was really interesting when reading this article. “ In the typical media coverage, “race” meant “black” and “class” meant “poverty”, both joining in the common identity of the African American trapped at the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center”. As often portrayed by the media, there is reality and then there is the media slant on reality. I think it is important to look at things in a class lens, because I feel that it opens your mind more to seeing the truth and reality that the media is hiding from us. Knowing that there is a lot more to the story than what is being shown or said.