This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Jan. 26, 2011 - What class are you? I'd think twice before asking that socially awkward question face to face. It sounds uncool, even unAmerican.
Yet, our individual prospects are shaped by the class designation that heredity and history bequeath to each of us. And our nation's prospects are shaped by the odds we all face for moving up or down the class ladder.
This week, the Beacon kicks off a yearlong project, Class: The Great Divide. Like our previous Race, Frankly project, this series aims to demystify a profoundly influential but seldom discussed force and look at how it affects our region. We'll tackle the challenge on several fronts -- through reported articles, opinion pieces, first person accounts and in-person discussions and events.
Also as with Race, Frankly, we'll be working with the Missouri History Museum. In fact, the museum's plan for monthly speakers on class inspired the Beacon's interest. We welcome the opportunity to work again in this unconventional partnership with an organization that shares the Beacon's values -- a commitment to unflinching inquiry and a conviction that understanding leads to progress.
Most of us like to think of America as a country where the middle class reigns and where anyone can rise through talent and hard work. But as Mary Delach Leonard's first story explains, this prevailing mythology is under threat from the new economic reality. The headline is a question: The late, great middle class?
We hope you'll join us as we explore this and other provocative questions in the year to come.