The Subjective Experience of Social Class

This article is based on the dissertation "The Pursuit of Class", a study of social class on a "micro-level". Through interviews with women, it explores how class -- through processes that interact with gender and other social differentiations -- leaves its mark on women's experiences and perceptions of self and others as well as their perceptions of opportunities accessible to them. In the interviews social differences are initially rejected, muffled and underplayed. Yet, in very subtle ways the women do in fact discuss social differences, although the word class is never used. Above all, class is revealed through borders drawn between them and us. This distancing from others is communicated mainly as moral reservations and moral condemnation. In that sense the women indirectly refer to people who think, act or prioritize differently. Motherhood appears to be a particularly important factor when the women assess themselves and others. Adapted from the source document.