Module 3 Paper

Part I: Personal Application

1. My key takeaways on social class from this week’s reading is that everyone has a

different version of disparity. We are all born into different challenges and those

challenges are meant to keep us exactly where we are born. I grew up on the

US/Mexico border and witnessed poverty, experienced poverty, but never

considered it outside of my own experience. I have truly gained insight into others’

experience in the United States in this class. Every week I am challenged to see

things from a new perspective. It is quite surprising for me to learn about the severity

of these issues while I continue in my life unphased. It makes me question my role in

these situations, my influence, how many people I can help in my current role. It also

makes me question why, as a society, we allow this to happen.

2. The Social Class Exercise made me think about something I see, but do not

acknowledge. When I read the question on the paper outline about the candidates

being non-white, I realized I had assumed the single mother was a non-white

minority, immediately assuming she was Hispanic or Black, therefore assuming the

child was as well. I realized this assumption because this is what I saw growing up. I

also assumed that the child with more opportunity would be white. If the children

were female, I think the child in the lower income environment has a higher chance

of being sexually assaulted than the child born with more social opportunity. I think

the education and career opportunities for these two children are different and will be

different based on their circle and the people around them willing to mentor each

child as they grow.

3. Playing the spent game was all too real. I went through it This was a rehashing of

my life from 18-25. Literally nickel and diming. Putting $2.00 of gas when gas is

$2.49 a gallon. I understand having to make hard choices between bills and food.

Eating cheap processed food makes you feel and look horrible, but it is better than

no food. Working 2-3 jobs to afford life and pay for culinary arts school cash so I did

not have any loans when I graduated was tough. I now recognize how blessed I am

to be able to afford to take my animals to the vet for treatment instead of to get put

down because it is the cheaper option. The dynamic of social class is interesting

and surprising. Everyone, no matter their class, thinks they deserve more, yet it

feels as though as a society everyone is so focused on getting ahead no one is

doing anything to change the system. It feels like something so tremendously large

and so impossible to change that I wonder if we ever will change it.

4. I identify as middle class. Able to live comfortably and happily but into debt to do

anything big like purchase a home or vehicle. Growing up we were always on the

struggle bus. We ate the same food on rotation, rice, beans, tuna, hamburger meat,

spaghetti. My father always grew a garden, so we always had lots of vegetables. He

hunted and brought home meat to help us cut costs throughout the year. As I have

grown into adulthood and become independent from my parents, I have been able to

improve upon the standard of living taught to me by my parents. I have moved up a

class from my life as a child. My parents have since divorced, and my mom is in the

same class, but my father and his new wife have moved up a class. It is nice not to

have to worry about dinner and to know if we are stressed or pressed for time we

can afford to order in or go out for dinner. It is nice to be able to pay all the bills and
 have recurring subscriptions that I do not notice leave my bank account. According

to the Pew Research Center I am in the middle class, and because of my network,

we receive invites to events and have experiences that are outside of our budget.

Part II.  Organizational Application

In terms of organizations, what really “stuck out” to you from the Social Class readings

and team building discussion…. did it trigger any awareness? Bias? Understanding?

Have you seen social class related privilege, bias, or the like at work in an organization?

Briefly describe.

Every week in this course my way of thinking has been challenged. I keep getting the

feeling that change is possible and what is really keeping people stuck in their social

class their mindset. When I look at the tremendous changes I have made in my life and

the intense amount of growth I have experienced, I realize that change is possible.

What surprised me was the growing racial divide in millennial wealth podcast. Hearing

the differences in incomes from equally qualified people of different races is so

upsetting. The more I learn in this class the more upset I become at what we are

allowing as a society, and I find myself feeling an increasing responsibility to change it. I

have always worked in restaurants specializing in back of house operations and it has

always been a diverse group of people from all over the world. I never thought much

about racial pay differences, but when I reflect, in all the kitchens, the chefs where white

or Asian, the cooks Latinos, and the dishwashers Black with very few women mixed in

between. In hindsight, I see that racial pay gaps are prevalent everywhere in every

industry and as a leader this is an area I can influence.