Class & Economy as Practices of Power:Barbara Ehrenreich

Nickel & Dimed

Health Insurance in the US• 49.9 million -- The number of uninsured Americans in 2010. That's 16.3% of

the total population.• 18.4% -- Percentage of uninsured Americans younger than 65 in 2010.• 28.4% -- The percentage of Americans 25 to 34 without insurance.• 7.3 million -- The number of children in the United States without health

insurance, 9.8% of all children in the country.• 15.4% - The percentage of children living in poverty who are also uninsured.• 26.9% -- Percentage of people earning less than $25,000 a year who are also

uninsured.• 256.2 million -- The number of Americans who were insured in 2010.• 24.6% - The percentage of uninsured people in Texas, the highest of any state.• 5.6% - The percentage of uninsured people in Massachusetts, the lowest of

any state.– http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/27/politics/btn-health-care

Intersectionality

• An interlocking matrix of power– The specific point at which an individual exists within an

architecture of power– Race, gender, class, nationality, religious affiliation,

ability, sexual orientation, etc. etc. etc.• Foucault: “a series of mechanisms for unbalancing

power relations definitively and everywhere; hence the persistence in regarding them as the humble, but concrete form of every morality, whereas they are a set of physico-political techniques.” (223)

Demographic characteristics of poverty-level-wage workers vs. non-poverty-level-wage workers, 2011

Share of entering classes at top universities and community colleges coming from families in various socioeconomic fourths

• Source: Economic Policy Institute

Share of children in the bottom income fourth ending up in either the bottom or top income fourth as adults, by race