April was quite the month. Earlier I wrote about how short 6 weeks at school would be, but boy did April throw that one off! While January, February, and March flew by, April crawled.
That’s the funny thing about time. The most continuous and linear concept is variable and fickle. Even busy-ness sometimes fails to speed it up for nothing can compete with the sluggishness of time when one is living in anticipation or impatience. It drags its feet like a child who doesn’t want to go to the dentist… or something like that.
Bottom line: Tons happened in April, the slowest month of the semester. Adventures were had, advice was given and received, tears were shed, laughter was enjoyed, sports were played, music danced to, tests taken. People were seen, acceptances received, work done, planning completed… well almost. (I have one tiny step left in the saga that is the acceptance of my CIS major.)
But for the sake of not being so vague, I offer you a story:
Once upon a time in April, I was working on an ethnographic research project on social class at St. Olaf. My two project partners and I scheduled focus groups and coerced our friends into coming – a task that proved much more difficult than first expected. People were hesitant to talk but once they got going, they didn’t stop! We were left with pages and pages of comments, opinions, and observations of the dynamics of social class on this campus and millions of thoughts spinning in our minds. As I went about my daily life – and continued to collect formal interviews – I found myself discussing the issue constantly. It came up in conversations with friends because it was what I was doing and soon I found that everyone had hours’ worth of things to say! I had conversation after spontaneous conversation on the subject because people’s minds and tongues were finally free. This is a subject that many people analyze daily without even realizing it. It can cause tensions and stress. It is discussed without being discussed – talked around. It is the elephant in the room.
Why is there a taboo surrounding the discussion of social class? Why can’t we push past it and simply have a discussion? Why do things have to be formal in order to allow for that? I started asking these questions and got an overwhelming answer: “guilt and shame.” People avoid the discussion of class for fear that they will be from different levels and one will be made to feel guilty and one will be shamed. People are afraid that they won’t say the “right thing” or that they will offend someone else. And yet, there is also resentment over unwillingness to discuss the issue. People wish for a freedom of discussion so that uncomfortable moments can be avoided and proper respect given. Bourdieu, a French sociologist, says that social structures that seem to be permanent are only perceived that way because of the great number of actors in the system who treat it and believe in it as such. All it takes to topple a social norm is for the actors in the system to reject that norm – to change their actions. So why don’t we? Well… you try mobilizing that many people to talk about a subject so apparently sensitive for so long. In the words of one of my interviewees, “it’s just not done in polite company.”
