Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-11-2020
Publication Title
Smith College Studies in Social Work
Abstract
Social class has many meanings and components – economic, social, political, one’s sense of identity, and how class intersects with other social identities – so it is difficult to define it briefly and succinctly. These definitions are further complicated by a global lens, where family of origin, geography, and other factors can pre-determine social class. In this article, we explore the complexities and contradictions of social class in the context of the United States as we believe that this is important for social work, particularly in the age of Donald Trump, where class, and its intersection with race and immigration status, is often used as a weapon to divide society and seek political advantages. While such use of class categories is not new in this country or in political rhetoric globally, the current climate in the United States warrants a review.
Keywords
Social class, Trump, SES, social work, intersectionality
Volume
90
Issue
1-2
First Page
79
Last Page
95
DOI
10.1080/00377317.2020.1706416
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Rights
Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.
Recommended Citation
Karpman, Hanna and Miller, Joshua, "Social Class and Social Work in the Age of Trump" (2020). School for Social Work: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/ssw_facpubs/12
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.