Bringing social class home: The social class genealogy and poverty lunch projects

Although sociologists frequently utilize the concept of social class, discu ssions about the issue can lead to perfunctory references to the role of ed ucation, occupational prestige, and income as the variables used to measure social class. This paper provides an overview of social class, poverty, an d welfare issues, as well as two in-class projects designed to inject reali sm and creativity into the study of these subjects. The first project invol ves a genealogical exploration into students' own social class backgrounds, as well as their childhood perceptions of social class and racial hierarch ies. The second project is a "Poverty Lunch," and involves a class-selected meal that uses the poverty line to budget for food costs (i.e., currently about 96 cents per person per meal). These projects accomplish several diff erent goals: first, they broaden students' understanding of their own famil ies' social class histories, which highlights the relevance of the sociolog ical imagination, that is, understanding the intersections of biography and the particular historical moments we are born into; second, they help stud ents understand the politics, history, realities. and challenges of the "po verty line"; and third, the projects build a sense of community and collabo rative learning in the classroom.