Exercises

1.

Marx and Engels wrote: “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – The bourgeoisie and the proletariat” (10). {Refers to views of others}

If only that were true, {Signal phrase used to distinguish her views from theirs} things might be more simple. But in late twentieth-century America, it seems that society is splitting more and more into a plethora of class factions – the working class, the working poor, lower-middle class, upper-middle class, lower uppers and upper uppers. I find myself not knowing what class I’m from.

In my day as a news reporter, I one asked a sociology professor what the thought about the

reported shrinking of the middle class. Oh, it’s not the middle class that’s disappearing, he said, {Refers to views of others} but the working class. His definition: if you earn thirty thousand dollars a year working in an assembly plant, come home from work, open a beer and watch the game, you are working class: if you earn twenty thousand dollars a year as a school teacher, come home from work to a glass of white wine and PBS, you are middle class.

How do we define class? Is it an issue of values, lifestyle, taste? Is it the kind of work you do, your relationship to the means of production? Is it a matter of how much money you earn? Are we allowed to choose? In this land of supposed classlessness, where we don’t have the tradition of English society to keep us in our places, how do we know where we really belong? The average American will tell you he or she is “middle class.” I’m sure that’s what my father would tell you. But I always felt {Refers to views of others} that we were in some no man’s land, suspended between classes, sharing similarities with some and recognizing sharp, exclusionary differences from others. What class do I come from? What class am I in now? As an historian, I seek the answers to these questions in the specificity of my past.

2. From my own writing: Standardized Test: What’s the point? An essay assignment from my Comp 105 class:

a) How many perspectives do you engage? 5

b) What other perspectives might you include? I could have included feedback from the principals of the school opinion about the subject. Also, the teacher’s viewpoints as well would have been good to obtain.

c) How do you distinguish your views from the other view you summarize? I used phrases starting with, “Can you imagine ____”, “The whole idea of ______”, “After viewing _________, I agree with _______.” “I feel that ___________.”

d) Do you use clear voice-signaling phrases? Yes

e) What options are available to you for clarifying who is saying what? The option of phrase patterns.

f) Which of these options are best suited for this particular text? The pattern usage referencing my opinion to what the other said first. Example: “After viewing ________________, I agree with _______________.”

Reading Response #1: “They Say”

1. a.) Recent scientific experiences suggest that there are dangerous levels of Chemical X in the Ohio groundwater.

b.) After carefully reading Novel X, my own view is that this novel has certain flaws.

c.) To some women, football is so boring.

d.) A large number of survey results have supported the notion that male students often dominate class discussions.

e.) After watching Film X, my view is really about the problems of romantic relationships.

f.) Most critics may believe that templates like the ones in this book will stifle my creativity.

2. If ever there was an idea custom-made for a Jay Leno monologue, this was it: women are bad drivers compared to men. Isn’t that like saying men are better basketball players compared to women?

I happen to sympathize with folks that tend to believe this, though, perhaps because I am a woman driver and my kids criticize how I drive sometimes.