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Classism
Working Class Students and Their sense of Belongingness through Classism
Leah Wrisley
Department of Psychology, Liberty University
PSYC 351, Multicultural Counseling and Research Issues
Donna Busarow
April 25th, 2022
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Classism
Introduction
This paper with be addressing classism, classism is defined as a person belonging to a
certain group or social class. In this particular article I choose is written by Genia M. Bettencourt
and it’s called, “I Belong Because It Wasn’t Made for Me”: Understanding Working-Class
Students’ Sense of Belonging on Campus”. This article addresses students that go to a well to do
at a Public Research institution and how they feel and appeal to others knowing that they have to
work hard to continue to go to school there. These students’ social class has a huge impact on
their college lives, wondering if they can make the payments or even questioning themselves if
this is the right school for them. This is a serious issue among the younger crowd for those who
have worked hard and want to continue going to school, all the while their mental health is
taking a nose dive and putting pressure on them trying to figure out if they were ever seen as one
with the campus and the student body.
This article goes over who the participants were and their thoughts and opinions on going
to a public research college. Altogether there were about 24 students who got involved with this
research. Bettencourt had to study and review several articles on classism with higher education,
she found out that there are assimilations that working class students have to following in order
to keep up at the well to do school. (Bettencourt 2021) Given that social class is shaped directly
by factors such as history, culture, and relationship with race. This can directly impact working
class students when trying to get a good education but fall short due to money, race etc. Working
class relates to lower-income families that students come from. From my personal observance
there are more and more lower-income students than actual higher class students that go to
college. I can vouch that even at 27 years of age I am working and still doing school just so I can
have a good career that can hopefully be fulfilling to me. I know what it’s like trying to support
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yourself, all the while trying to do school at the same time. (Bettencourt 2021) Prior to college,
working-class students have been socialized to defer to authority and to focus on the growth of
their natural talents as compared to the direct advocacy and the strategic pursuit of opportunities
taught to their middle-class peers. What this means is working class student are meant to try to
find a purpose in life rather than your parents pay for everything and you continue with the
family business or wanting to “get out of the house” type of situation. Working class students
have to find their purpose, the reason for going to school if they ever want to have somewhat of a
future. In response to potential social opportunities, working-class students have navigated
between feeling excluded, choosing not to pursue relationships, and trying to pass as middle- or
upper-class (Bettencourt 2021). For working class students they have to choose what is the most
important at that time, whether it be passing classes, not making friends or even setting some
time aside to release stress. These students have no time to spare if they want to keep an active
enrollment in school and make it in the world. Culturally, working-class students viewed
academic accomplishment as an independent endeavor and were less likely to ask for help
(Bettencourt 2021). These students wouldn’t interact with their professors for help or advocate
their needs to get to a higher standpoint in their academic course.
Where does the sense of belongingness fit in? Maslow emphasized that individual action
drives progressive levels of needs, widely known as a hierarchy of needs (Bettencourt 2021).
Each needs have to be met in order to move on to the next need. For these working class students
juggling these needs to fit in while passing school can be a very difficult task. In order to get to
the higher level of achievement is self-love and self-actualization. To reach self-actualization
you need to develop a sense of belongingness. If these students can’t develop belongingness then
their self-actualization cannot be fulfilled and can be very detrimental to their future goals.
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(Bettencourt 2021) Strayhorn (2012) outlined seven core elements of sense of belonging that
contextualize sense of belonging as a basic, ongoing need framed in one’s context. This study
focuses on element 5, which is how social identities of students shape their overall
belongingness. Working class students feel less like they belong in higher education resulting in
poor academics and decline in social behavior. Sense of belonging for working-class students has
been additionally complicated by the contradictory role that higher education holds as both a site
of social reproduction and a site of social mobility (Bettencourt 2021). When students peruse
higher education they think they are automatically held to a high standard. That doesn’t have to
be the case, just because Sally has a full ride by her parents doesn’t her education is worth more
that working class students. I feel like there needs to be some common ground in education.
Most of everyone that is in school is trying to make a career for themselves. The schools should
make that their common goal for every student.
The method used in this study to define classism among students was a narrative inquiry.
(Bettencourt 2021) In narrative inquiry, participants live, retell, and relive their narratives in
conversation with the researcher. That way the researcher gets a personal perspective on that
student day to day life at school. These narratives are constricted by time and context which are,
year, undergraduate, and data collection. Here, I studied the “exaggerated role power plays in
[knowledge] construction and validation processes” (Kincheloe, 2005, p. 3) by placing sense of
belonging within the context of social class and classism (Bettencourt 2021). There was a two-
step process to this interview, first was to focus on students class background. The second was
on on-campus life. With the second step being campus related, there were more questions that
came out as students talked about on campus living. Specific questions asked a) How connected
do you feel on campus?; b) How supportive do you feel like [institution] is to students from
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different class backgrounds?; c) Do you feel like [institution] values working-class students? and
d) If I asked you if you feel like you belong at [institution], what would you say? (Bettencourt
2021). These types of question make you think as an human, wondering if you experience in
college was actually worth it or not. Then it brings back memories that some students may try to
forget. After doing some data collecting it was clear to see the findings of the overall study.
(Bettencourt 2021) The first three focused on the ways that institutions succeeded or fell short in
promoting a sense of belonging for participants on campus: (a) duality within campus resources
that made them supportive or not depending on individual experiences; (b) spaces of
connectedness to counter campus norms; and (c) devaluing of working-class contributions. I
personally feel they need to recognize every student that puts forth the effort and making
resources available to every student that needs advice or help. These students also describe their
financial resources has having mixed feelings. I can relate because the first school I was enrolled
at their financial assistance program was terrible. Even though I had very low income I still
couldn’t qualify to get the help I needed. They would offer these offsite programs we go do to
make up for the cost but they were never easy to get into. (Bettencourt 2021) In reviewing
support, connection, and value above, participants described things that their institutions did that
helped or hindered their sense of belongingness. This could be financial assistance, interacting
with staff/professors, or even joining a group that could be beneficial to their on campus life.
Conclusion
Overall this study does help give a better understanding for what life is like for working
class students. They don’t all have to be super young to experience hardships in college. Some
students have no clue where to begin with asking for help, even though it’s needed. Schools do
need to have better support for their students, they choose to go to your school for a reason, help
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them with their journey. That’s why as a therapist on the college grounds or off needs to
understand the student as a whole, not by their academics. (Sue el al 2019) They must be
concerned with issues of classism, racism, sexism, homophobia, and all of “isms” that deny
equal rights to everyone. As a therapist you need to educate yourself on every aspect of those
terms. Classism is a very big one, this goes on everyday but yet nothing seems to get better. As a
young student entering a higher education with those of a wealthier construct they need some
extra support. They may not get it from their professors but at least they can come to you for
support and advice. Always be on their level, never give them excuses because they feel they are
behind or not fit for campus life. No, everybody has a struggle and everybody has a background.
In Proverbs 28:6 states, “Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than a rich man who is
crooked in his ways”. For the working class that integrity goes along way, than those who look
for loopholes and end up always having a cloudy judgment.
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Reference
Genia M. Bettencourt (2021) “I Belong Because It Wasn’t Made for Me”: Understanding
Working-Class Students’ Sense of Belonging on Campus, The Journal of Higher
Education, 92:5, 760-783, DOI: 10.1080/00221546.2021.1872288
Sue, D. W., Sue, D., Neville, H. A., & Smith, L. (2019). Counseling the culturally diverse:
Theory and practice (8th ed.) John Wiley & Sons.
Stephen Smith. Publication date: Mar 30, 2022. Publisher: OpenBible.info.
