Class, Money, Privilege, and the Poor Among Us

Alissa Quart wants us to think not only about downward mobility, industry shifts, and low wage white collar jobs, but also about what not having money does to us and our bodies.

Alissa Quart, Executive Director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project ©TK

At one of my lowest points as a solo¹ working mother of three, I was about to buy $6 worth of apples at a local farmer’s market when I checked my bank account to make sure I could cover the cost. I had $18 to my name. In other words, those apples represented one third of my th…