Class Cultures

Instructors:  Dennis Hogan and Lila Teeters Knolle 
Meeting time: Tuesday, 3:00-5:45
Canvas site

This course explores the formation and evolution of class structures in the twentieth and twenty-first century, paying particular attention to how class is talked about and represented in the United States. In our engagement with representations of class status, relations, and inequality, we will analyze how class has affected notions of the American dream, impacted language of social mobility, and informed cultural belonging. Drawing on a range of sources, including novels, films, newspaper articles, TV shows, photography, and government reports, we will consider how conversations about class intersect with other indices of marginalization, such as race, gender, and sexual orientation. As we engage with the categorizations of upper, middle, and lower class, we’ll also consider the flexibility of these categories and how they change over time. By the end of the course, students will be able to apply class as an analytical framework across a wide variety of cultural contexts.