I believe that classism is at the root of most of the problems in America. Hot button issues like racism, welfare, health care, corrupt politicians, and corporate bailouts are symptoms of classism. People can be manipulated to be distracted by these symptoms. This allows the underlying condition, classism, to go untreated. I am not saying that these symptoms should not be addressed, I am saying maybe we should step back, take a look the big picture and maybe we could more effectively deal with these issues.
My wife and I were talking the other night, when something occurred to me.
My wife is a social worker (and no that wasn’t what occurred to me.) When she states how much she earns, she states it in terms of “per hour.” I work in a business setting. When I state how much I earn, I state it in terms of “per year.” Why do we not use the same terms? We are discussing the same thing. It reminded me of trying to compare kilometers and miles – you need to do some math to compare the two measurements.
I have a factory friend that earns $13.50 an hour, which is pretty good money in Clarksville for a guy with only a high school diploma. Why doesn’t he say he earns $26,000 a year? If you were the factory worker, how would you answer the question? Which sounds better, $13.50 an hour or $26,000 a year? Let’s put these numbers in perspective and re-ask the question. Which sounds better, $13.50 an hour, almost double the minimum wage, or $26,000 just above the poverty level. I would propose that the working class factory worker would say that the $13.50 sounds more successful. I do not know many people that get paid by the hour, that discuss earnings by the year.
I have a college buddy who earns $75,000 a year at a local business. Why didn’t he say $36.00 an hour? Which sounds better $36.00 an hour or $75,000 a year? I would propose that the professional class business person would suggest that the $75,000 a year sounds better. If they thought the $36 an hour sound better, I would assume that would be how they expressed their income level. Again, I do not know many salaried employees, that discuss their earnings in relation to per hour.
Why does society use different personal earnings measurements between classes? The common answer is that the factory worker is punching a clock, doing his assigned task for his assigned time. While the business person is paid to do a job, no matter if it requires 40 hours a week of 55 hours a week. This would seem a valid point.
But wouldn’t the salaried worker working 55 hours a week, need to know if he could make the same amount of money, by working less hours for for a higher hourly wage? Wouldn’t the factory worker want to be able to compare their pay to those in factory management?
Look at even higher classes like big corporate executives. They are not salaried nor do they get paid per hour. The lion’s share of their earning comes from bonuses and stock options, tied to the companies performance – not task and time worked.
Why have we, as a society, agreed to use different measurements terms when relating to each other?
The result is different classes become inhibited, if only verbally, from perceiving the lines of class. The comparison of earnings becomes non-intuitive. Who earns more someone making $22.75 a hour 52 weeks a year or someone making $44,875 a year or someone with a stock option to buy 1000 shares of company stock for $10 before September 30th? I bet you need a calculator.
I am not saying that classism would go away if we all used the same measurement of earnings. That is absurd. The point I am trying to make, is that this way of talking promotes classism. The framework of our speech masks the boundaries of classes, and to some extent the effects of classism.
No matter whether you use hourly or annual income, people will judge you accordingly. So. if you don’t want to be judged, just tell them its none of their business.