BOOK CORNER September Book of the Month
Race and Class Matters at an Elite College
Elizabeth Aries
Temple Univ Press, Philadelphia, PA, 2008.
Reviewed By Erin Van Anglen
Elizabeth Aries, a Professor of Psychology at Amherst College, examines how race and class impact students’ experiences at one of the country’s top liberal arts colleges in her new book, Race and Class Matters at an Elite College (Temple University, October 2008). During the 2005-2006 academic year at Amherst College, Professor Aries closely studied the experiences of 58 first-year black and white students from affluent and low-income backgrounds as they come together to live and learn as freshmen. For some, it is the first time they have had such close interactions with a rich kid, or a person of color--or for that matter, a wealthy person of color.
Amherst College, ranked the number one liberal arts college by U.S. News & World Report this year, has made a commitment to diversify the student body in terms of race and class. The school has an initiative designed to foster low-income students through the admissions process, provide full scholarships for many, and continue to support them on campus. However, the majority of Amherst College students are white and come from privileged backgrounds.
The group of freshmen who participated in the Aries’ study came from four types of backgrounds: affluent whites, affluent blacks, poor and/or first-generation whites, and poor and/or first-generation blacks. They provided extensive personal information about their experiences around race and class through online questionnaires and face-to-face interviews at the beginning and end of the school year. We learn about their personal views on diversity and relationships that were formed at home, and observe how those beliefs carry into their college lives.
Aries breaks the study into two parts. Based on the evidence from the study, first she outlines the socio-economic aspects of the research and then she discusses race, and finally, how they intersect. She evaluates where changes in perspectives occurred and what the sources of the change were. For example, when one of the affluent white students gains more awareness and debunks a stereotype he would have previously made about one of the other research groups, she analyzes whether this was made through a casual encounter or if the school community fostered that development. A few key questions posed by Aries include: will their views of people different than themselves change or evolve by being part of a community together, or will it continue to stay the same? If the students’ perspectives do change as they begin to feel comfortable and accepting of people unlike themselves, will their new perspectives carry over into the real world and help make bigger societal changes? Are college campuses the key to introducing diversity to students in order to help eliminate racism and classism in society?
This book unveils the concerns and insecurities of students from each of these societal categories about their race and class. As a white low-income student myself, I identified with the Amherst students who shared the same background as me. I clearly saw how some of the black low-income students were similar to me, but also identified some differences in our experiences. The personal narratives of the participating students gives unusual depth to the evidence found in the study, and helps the reader better understand how race and class both play large roles in the lives of college students.
Aries urges us to think about how we can best create diverse communities of students that foster cross- class/cross-race relationships that carry into the real world after graduation. An institution of higher education can diversify its student body, but if the campus culture encourages people to stay within their heterogeneous groups, then great opportunities for ongoing change will be lost. Elite colleges, and all schools for that matter, need to recognize their responsibility for educating the next generation to lead and work well as a global community.
View previous Class Action Book of the Month selections...
July Book of the Month: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill)
June Book of the Month: Without a Net: The Female Expereince of Growing Up Working Class
May Book of the Month: Women Without Class: Girls, Race and Identity
April Book of the Month: Trembling in Bones
March Book of the Month:The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality
February Book of the Month: Class and Parenting
January Movie of the Month: The Story of Stuff
December Book of the Month: Graceful Simplicity: Towards a Philosophy & Politics of Simple Living
November Book of the Month: All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life
October Movie of the Month:The Milagro Beanfield War
September Book of the Month: Tearing Down the Gates
August Book of The Month: Staff Picks
July Book of the Month: Theory of the Leisure Class
June Book of the Month: Capitalism 3.0: A Guide to Reclaiming the Commons
May Book of the Month: Death in the Haymarket
April Book of the Month: Food Politics
March Book of the Month: Psychology and Economic Injustice
February Book of the Month : What's My Name, Fool?
December Book of the Month:
Dead Heat: Global Justice and Global Warming
November Book of the Month: Awol
October Book of the Month: Class Passing
September Book and Video of the Month: Beyond Silenced Voices and Declining By Degrees
August Books of the Month: Human Cargo and Gathering the Sun
July Book of the Month: The Overworked American by Juliet Schor
June Book of the Month: More Money Than God by Steven R. Leder
May Book of the Month: Global Class by Jeff Faux
April Books of the Month: Classified and Strapped
March Book of the Month: Welfare Brat, A Memoir by Mary Childers
February Book of the Month: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
January Book of the Month: Invisible Privilege: A Memoir about Race, Class, and Gender by Paula Rothenberg
View last year's Book of the Month selections...
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