People Like Us and Center for Working Class Studies

I loved these two websites! Center for Working class studies was a really great site, very informative, and I loved how it was done through a University. However, while it was very informative, it would seem like a boring website to someone who wasn't interested in the subject. People like us however was interactive and informative and taught people something whether they realized it or not. I played the almost all of the games, with my favorite being decorating your own living room. You had choices of wall decor, rugs, furniture, tv size, and its not like it cost anything to put in your living room, you just had to decide what you liked best. Every time you would click on a different object, each character would comment on your choice. You had one character was of a very low class, one comes from a upper class, another working middle class and so on.

So when I decorated my living room, it made me appear as though I was from a lower class because I chose what I liked. Which could be because I grew up in a lower middle, upper lower class family. What I was used to and liked was seen as a lower class to someone that came from a higher class. I realized that the first time I played the game, I was paying too close attention to what the characters were commenting about my picks rather than what I actually liked. And, you had to choose a dog!!!! Which apparently also says a lot about your class status. When I clicked on the pit bull, the character who was from the lowest class commented on it saying that only the criminal element would have one of those. Very interesting. When you finish the game, you can see the break down, and I had a few choices were marked as new money, old money, working class, middle middle class and with my choice to go with the pit bull was deemed as trailer park. Who would of thought? This brings it to be a feminist issue, because anything that involves class, race, or equality has to do with feminism. Feminism is about making equal opportunities available to people of all color, gender, sex, class, etc and class is a defining factor in what opportunities become available. Even small things, like shoes, or your furniture or your rug choice say a lot about your class and how people perceive you and that becomes part of your identity.