Taking the following survey as a learning device (no need to send it anywhere) widens our understanding of class and classism. As we look at the wide variety of possibilities for women’s experience in many areas, we have new realizations about the ways in which we do or do not have privilege.
The things some of us take for granted and expect are not the same as what others of us take for granted or expect. Those expectations and understandings lead to different behaviors and philosophies.
Taking a look at things we have always had and expect to have, then trying to understand how someone who has never had them thinks and feels is a first step at understanding privilege. Would she ever expect them in her life? How is she different from us if she will never have those expectations? What is the impact of that knowledge?
On the other hand, looking at the things we know other women expect, have, and always expect to have, but for which we have only have a faint experience, gives insight into how lack of privilege affects us. How do we feel about it?
Expectations for our lives are set early in life. How can we bridge the different expectations we have all grown up with when they work unconsciously? Realizations of what we take for granted and do or do not expect are deeply embedded in classism. Becoming conscious is a necessary element in working against it.
This tool, designed years ago by Penny Wilson, is valuable in terms of consciously looking at the details of classism in our everyday lives.