On Class by Deborah Dundas
On Class
By Deborah Dundas
Biblioasis, 2023; 144 pages; $18.95
Reviewed by Brian Kaufman
If you attended public school you probably had a kid (maybe several kids) in your class whose clothes looked a little more tattered than the other kids, whose shoes were scuffed and worn-down at the heel (even the first week of September when most of us came decked out in our fresh duds, all set for the new school year), and whose lunch, if they even had one, didn’t look very exciting and wasn’t much to envy. This was often the same kid that got teased and ridiculed on the school grounds because of their appearance: they were told they smelled, they needed a bath, they needed to clean the wax out of their ears, etc. And this kid’s situation wasn’t usually created out of neglect, but merely due to a lack of household funds, the fact that there just wasn’t enough money to take care of all the bills and bring home all the essentials. Deborah Dundas knows all about class and poverty because she was one of those kids.
Dundas’ On Class zooms in on one of the white elephants in the living room of Canadian society: Class. We don’t talk about it much, because talking about class involves talking about money: how much of it you have or don’t have. It also involves talking about where you were born, where you grew up, what your parents did for a living, what you do for a living, and how much you get paid for it. It’s gets very personal very fast and a lot of people feel awkward talking about money. But let’s face it, money buys privilege, another thing that the working class are in short supply of. Poor kids don’t have privilege, can’t as easily go to college or university, which makes class also about “exclusion” — keeping certain folks out of certain establishments, clubs, even golf courses (eg: the Vancouver Golf Club is open to new members by “invitation only.”) Class is also about social standing (who you know) and power (who you know with influence). Money and social status open doors to opportunity.
Most Canadians act as if class doesn’t exist in our society. We are a “have” country and surely all needs are met, all stomachs are full, and children here are free of want. Unlike India’s blatant caste system, or England’s hierarchical classification from Aristocracy (or, Elite) down to manual labourer, Canada is portrayed as an egalitarian land of opportunity. Until fairly recently, Canada could boast about its great social safety net, yet in just over a decade Canada’s ranking has fallen from 13th to 39th out of 170 countries in meeting the basic needs of its citizens. And truth be told (as of 2020 stats), over a million children go to school on an empty stomach. That is reason enough to care more about inequality. The book asks, “What don’t we talk about when we don’t talk about class?” Well, these are some of the things we don’t talk about but should be talking about.
Reading this slim volume reminded me of the old broadsheet issued by press Gang publishers back in the late ’70s: “Class consciousness is knowing which side of the fence you are on. Class analysis is figuring out who is there with you.” On Class is a great entrée for those wanting to give more thought to the pressing issues of poverty and class in Canada.
On Class is part of Biblioasis’ Field Notes series that includes other volumes on intriguing subjects such as “Risk,” “Writing and Failure,” “Community,” and “Decline.” »