#class divides

why we need money, getting down to understanding money deeply.

would like to explore healthcare.

why are we so afraid of the lower income groups and households?

- a basic level of ignorance, which means a basic lack of protection in the face of adversity. a lack of access to rights, knowledge, and remedies

- hygiene, disease and eventually, death. lower income is associated with pathetic health care and thus, a substandard quality of life

- disposability. impermanence. the materials around us, the replaceability.

- to matter / to not matter / the fear of not mattering / getting crushed / ceasing.

Anywhere you have differences, you will find tensions. Race, gender, religion, sexuality -all of these cause tensions from arguments and insults to wars and massacres. Class is no different.

Permit me, for a moment, to drag out some Marxist theory. The fundamental idea here is that the working class -the ‘proletariat’- are oppressed by the upper classes -the ‘bourgeoisie’- who own the means of production (factories, banks etc.). Marxists believe that the working class need to realise this and rise up in revolution to overthrow the bourgeoisie and take over the means of production for the benefit of all. All this stems from the idea that the upper classes are oppressing the working class for their own gain. So, some theorists, particularly Marxists, would suggest that you can’t have a ruling class without them being bad guys, because they are inherently oppressing other people.

It could also be seen as irresponsible to represent the ruling class as not being ‘bad guys’ in this sense. Imagine, for example, someone was asking how to make a white ruling class not look like bad guys for oppressing PoC, or a straight ruling class oppressing LGBTQIA people still appear like good people. It isn’t the role of this blog to educate on these matters, and there are a lot of great resources here on tumblr if you wish to explore those particular issues. I just want to make it explicitly clear that in many countries class is a social issue comparable to race and sexuality in the fervour and seriousness of the feelings in the debate. If witches vs non-witches is an allegory for current socio-economic class relations, Mod Galbraith would like to suggest that you tread carefully.

Now I’ve gotten that downer out of the way, let’s see if I can actually help out with what you came here for. Class tension can be exhibited in lots of ways, and -fairly or not- can be seen as going both ways (though note that the oppression only goes one way). Examples of tension include:

Name-calling: chavs, hood rats, ghetto, yobbos, white trash etc. are all slang used to denigrate and separate out people of typically lower socio-economic backgrounds. Likewise, snob, posh twat, prig and many other unprintable variations are used to mock and insult the upper classes. Magical/non-magic names can be a great way to showcase this, even if the names are less offensive than real world ones to keep your class divide a bit more civil

Accent: accents are a great way to separate out people from different backgrounds just by listening to them. As well as slang, someone’s accent can quickly be used to place their background and make judgements -whether accurate or not- about their personality. Even if your characters are from the same region, such as London, there’s a world of difference between a Cockney and an RP (received pronunciation -think Queen’s English) accent.

Segregation of living areas, jobs etc: anything from past segregation leading to the separation of races into different areas in US cities to house prices forcing poorer, lower class families out of an area can lead to class divisions by living area. Likewise with jobs, a non-magical person isn’t going to be able to take up a magic-reliant job, and may even be barred from government or police jobs by prejudice about their abilities/background.

Different social circles: witches and non-witches not typically associating each other can be quickly showcased the first time two characters from the two different groups interact. How are they supposed to say hello? Shake hands or kiss cheeks? Will they find that joke funny? Should I wear my amulets or take them off? Insecurity on the part of one or both characters can be very revealing of the differences between them without the need for aggression or anger. Then there’s friendship groups: does your witch have any non-magical friends?

Different political parties representing each group: this can be seen in the real world in the UK and many other countries. The UK has the Labour party which was set up to be the working man’s party, and the Conservatives who are traditionally seen as the party of the upper classes (please no-one come and argue about who these parties represent etc. etc., I know there’s a lot of dispute about this but I’m speaking historically on purpose here :). Witches and non-witches may end up with two different parties representing them in government, with each group broadly voting for ‘their’ party

Protests: if you don’t want your witches to look like the bad guys, I’d stay away from protests. Nevertheless, class tensions often lead to protest, and on occasion to a full revolution (which probably makes Marx happy). This depends on to what extent your witches are ‘running the place’ and how happy your non-witches are to accept this status quo. 

Playing with point of view may help you to dissipate a potential ‘bad guy’ image. There’s a saying along the lines of “the villain doesn’t see himself as the bad guy,” and that rationality can be extended to groups of people as well. If your story is told from the PoV of one witch and one non-witch, their perceptions of their own class and reality may balance out the ‘bad guy/good guy’ dynamic while still illustrating tensions.

Another way to show tensions is through communication culture clashes. What one class may find normal and polite, the other class may find rude or awkward which may lead to further tensions between individuals and classes. For example, in some cultures, it is common to kiss as a greeting, even if it is with someone they first met. For someone coming from a culture where this is not common, it may create a moment of discomfort and confusion, especially if they did not have prior knowledge of this cultural aspect. In this way, neither party is necessarily good or bad, they are just different in ways that have the potential to cause friction. So for your witches, maybe they have a magical signature that they automatically exchange upon greeting someone, which would exclude the non-witches and create a moment of ‘oh no what do I do now?’ moment for both parties when they first meet.

Is free love really free?

Where Have You Gone, Tom Magliozzi?

“Tom Magliozzi” by Unknown – Original publication: It was published on NPR blogs.Immediate source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/11/03/361190483/fans-and-colleagues-remember-car-talk-host-tom-magliozzi. Licensed under Fair use of copyrighted material in the context of Tom and Ray Magliozzi via Wikipedia

Actually, I have no idea of the answer to this question and won’t presume to guess…

MY WALK TO WORK: HOW I ACCEPTED THAT I CAN’T CHANGE THE WORLD

Cuenca is a city for the wealthy. It brims with middle class families and American ex-pats. Maybe it’s partly the aesthetics; unlike the concrete jungle of Quito, Cuenca is smattered with white colonial churches and paved one way streets. It feels wealthier, somehow.

The first few blocks I walk past are lined with nice houses, each with a garden and a dog and a nice family living in them and…

MY WALK TO WORK: HOW I ACCEPTED THAT I CAN’T CHANGE THE WORLD

Cuenca is a city for the wealthy. It brims with middle class families and American ex-pats. Maybe it’s partly the aesthetics; unlike the concrete jungle of Quito, Cuenca is smattered with white colonial churches and paved one way streets. It feels wealthier, somehow.

The first few blocks I walk past are lined with nice houses, each with a garden and a dog and a nice family living in them and even…