FORUM; Is class eclipsed by other considerations of identity?

As far as one's individual identity, I would argue that it is impossible to extricate the influence of one social marker from others. Race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and any other demographic variable associated with social status are all intertwined. They work in concert to shape identity, life circumstances, and others' responses to us. It becomes difficult to argue that class is eclipsed by other social markers when it is impossible to separate classism from other forms of oppression. However, individuals may view other social markers, such as race or sexual orientation as far more central to their identity than social class. One could also attempt to conceal one's social class or pass as a member of another social class. For example, it is an interesting phenomenon that many Americans, whether they be working class or upper middle class, label themselves middle class. Yet the middle class is one of the levels of social class occupied by the fewest people. What motivates such a heterogenous group of people to identify with this label? Furthermore, social class is somewhat fluid. Unlike ethnicity and gender, social class is subject to change. People strive to improve their socioeconomic status and all of us are vulnerable to a downward shift. People also have a tendency to attribute others' social class to internal variables such as motivation and effort. This fluidity, vulnerability, and sense of personal responsibility may contribute to the tendency to consider class less central to identity, particularly for those at lower levels of social status. Consider first the young people we don't teach. Millions of low-income children -- disproportionately racial and ethnic minorities -- suffer stunting deprivations in nutrition, housing, and healthcare that cause them to drop out of school; or they attend destitute schools that don't prepare them for college; or they aspire to college but cannot surmount the financial obstacles. According to a report prepared by the staff of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (See "Beyond Percentage Plans: The Challenge of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education," November 2002), federal programs serve only a fraction of the low- and middle-income students they were designed to assist (on the government's unrealistic definition, their families have, respectively, annual incomes under $25,000 and $25,000-$74,999). The TRIO programs, which help students prepare for and complete college, are so underfunded that they serv