Classism in Literature
Managing Editor Annie Mydla consults North Street Book Prize judge Ellen LaFleche on classist tropes we commonly see in contest entries, why they're harmful, and what to do about it.
Interested in social justice in writing? See also the previous post on Exploitation Versus Representation.
When it comes to troubled representation in literature, classism is a top offender—and can be among the hardest to self-edit for. Class-discriminatory ideas are entrenched in our society and in our writing. Consider the following real-life examples from entries we've received:
The introduction of a book written during the COVID-19 pandemic takes for granted that "we were all stuck at home", disregarding the experience of millions of lower-income people with front-line jobs who didn't have the luxury of working remotely.
A book about a modern-day, early-career college professor depicts him owning a home outright and having the income and job security to take a lengthy trip around the world without a second thought, counter to the precariousness of academic work today.
The speaker of a poetry collection is a wealthy, middle-class man who quits his prestigious job to live in a mountain hut. The poems depict the speaker's decision as morally superior, but do not mention or explore the class dimension: the speaker is able to do this thanks to his wealth.
In all three cases, the problem lay not with the story or characters themselves, but with the unspoken assumptions about class that collapsed our sense of the book's authority. Each of these books would have been significantly stronger had class been brought into the open as an underlying condition, and its implications explored wherever they touched the plot and themes.
North Street Book Prize judge Ellen LaFleche has long been outspoken against classism in her book evaluations. In preparation for this blog post, I asked for her thoughts. Here are some of the classist assumptions Ellen has noticed most frequently in North Street entries, together with her commentary.
A low-income character can't bootstrap their way out of poverty, and the narrative shows that it's because they're too "stupid" or "lazy"
"It's really important to talk about/ask about an aspect of classism that is rarely acknowledged: the myth that someone is a failure or lazy or stupid if they can't bootstrap their way out of the working class. No matter how hard people try to bootstrap, the country still needs people to work at numerous low-paying jobs: short-order cooks, farmers, housecleaners, meatpackers, school bus drivers, etc. Meatpackers were among the hardest hit early in the COVID epidemic, but I haven't seen analysis of this very important story that includes a discussion of classism."
Education is depicted as an automatic solution for a character's poverty
"It's assumed that education is crucial to bootstrapping, but working-class people face huge obstacles with fewer educational resources. As a personal example, I worked full time while going to high school. Literally full time. 40+ hours per week. I had little time to study or do homework. I was always exhausted at school. I got home around 10:30 every night, and had to decide whether to sleep, do homework, or take a shower to wash off the restaurant smells that permeated my hair. I got by on 'coffee and anxiety'. The anxiety persists to this day and has led to serious health problems.
"The elite colleges are priced out of range for the working class. Predatory student loans have held back Gen X and Millennials, even those from middle-class backgrounds. Many Millennials have been priced out of owning a house, yet they get lambasted for buying a Starbucks coffee. And while Biden has been working to relieve these predatory loans, his efforts have been met with huge amounts of anger and controversy.
"Add in racism, sexism, ageism, and so on. All of which make bootstrapping that much harder."
Class mobility is as possible now as it was in mid-1900s America
"It's getting progressively harder to bootstrap in America. Think soaring rents, single parents working two jobs, and so on. The richer neighborhoods/states often have better schools, better health care, better nutrition, etc. Not to mention: access to generational wealth through inheritance. For many poor people, the death of a parent means spending money (cremation services, etc.) rather than inheriting it."
The protagonist encounters characters low-income characters and considers that their class status is their fault
"Working-class people suffer from the myth that the oppression they face is their own darn fault. I've been thinking about how my late husband worked most of his 40-year career as a gerontologist. Ageism is everywhere, and it's ferocious, but nobody ever walked up to an old person and blamed them for being 78. Who can help when they were born? Yet, working-class people are blamed and shamed: they didn't try hard enough, they weren't smart enough, they took drugs, etc.
"This blame is so deeply entrenched in all of us that it's often hard to see classism in a book even if I'm looking for it. One trope that is obvious is portraying working-class people with no teeth, living in trailer parks, and drinking beer on the stoop."
As Ellen's comments show, it can be hard to identify classism in books due to its cultural prevalence. But the benefits of resisting these tropes are significant. Authority, narrative depth, and relatability all blossom when stereotypes are challenged. So what can we do to identify and resist classism in our own work?
1. Keep an eye out for classism in other authors' work. Ellen shares her experience with J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy: "I was eager to read the book because of its focus on Appalachian poverty. I bought a copy at a secondhand bookstore. After reading about 50 pages, I had a strong urge to toss it in a dumpster. All the classist tropes are there. I was astonished but not surprised when he became the Republican nominee for Vice President. If you want to brush up on your skills at spotting classism in a book, Hillbilly Elegy is the perfect 'textbook' to do so. Hint: look for generational poverty being blamed on laziness and drug addiction—as if wealthy people are never lazy or high on drugs!"
2. Become familiar with the tropes. Tvtropes.com has extensive indexes of tropes relating to poverty, wealth, occupations, and class relations. Googling "class tropes" leads to many hits, too. You might be surprised how fun it can be to learn about tropes. Since I learned about tvtropes.com, "trope-scrolling" has become one of my top sources of edutainment.
3. For fantasy and sci-fi writers: Double-check your worldbuilding. Imaginary realms can sometimes be an outlet for classist assumptions that would be more easily identifiable in realistic settings. This article from Mythcreants has useful examples from popular entertainment: Five Signs Your Story Is Classist.
4. Ask how your character would feel if they read your work. If part of your plot or character depiction focuses on class or income, imagine yourself in their shoes. What assumptions did the text make? What could it be saying instead?
5. For older authors: Investigate your own assumptions about what life is like in the year of your story, especially if it's set in the present day. Some older authors grew up in environments that were more economically stable and might not have fully taken on board how times have changed (this turned out to be the case in the example about the college professor, above). If you're an older author writing about the world of the 2020s, it might be a good idea to do some research to find out whether the economic conditions you're giving your characters are realistic.
6. Look for intersections with other forms of literary exploitation. Classism often goes hand-in-hand with racism, sexism, ableism, and body-shaming. Examples from past contest entries include mocking working-class women for wearing cheap clothing and bold cosmetics; or depicting a character eating fast food as shorthand for being unrefined and uneducated.
If you find an exploitative trope, sniff around and you might find classism lurking close by.
Categories: Advice for Writers, Essays on Writing
