The Class Factor

1. Comprehension check

1. What social class was O’Reilly born into? Did he realize his social background straight from his childhood?

2. Does the class system encourage people from Levittown to move up the social ladder?

3. When did O’Reilly first learn about the rigidity of the class system?

4. What path did O’Reilly follow after graduation from the college?

5. Was the Harvardites’ superiority complex conscious?

2. Discriminate between true and false statements. Justify your choice by relevant information from the section.

1. Politicians enjoy speculating about different aspects of the class system.

2. Advertisers are committed to the uniformity of the consuming class.

3. You can undoubtedly make the quantum leap from one class into another by just working a little harder.

4. O’Reilly’s father had a strong belief that

1. “the best” was playing it safe in life;

2. going to college shall be a life-altering event;

3. only spartan life which he shared with his neighborhood can be an icon of ambition for his children.

5. American politicians, businesspeople, and media moguls are well aware of the essentiality of the middle class for their existence.

6. The Harvardites wanted O’Reilly to call them straight by their Christian names.

7. Authorities expected Notah Begay, the golf player to stay at least a week in the detention center.

3. Fill in the blanks

1. Most of us remain in the same class, for ---------- or -----------, until the day we die.

2. Commitment to the idea of quantum leap is supposed to keep us ------------- and quiet.

3. Class is about opportunity for your kids or ------------- hopes, about education or minds that ----------for good, about enduring ------------ or materialism that comes out as greed or --------- or complete-----------for others.

4. No one ever told O’Reilly that he was ------------ the social totem pole.

5. O’Reilly was --------- for the larger stage and went toBoston University for a master’s degree in journalism.

6. “Our fathers did not have friends waiting to interview us for ------------- jobs as soon as we got our ------------.

7. Many of the faculty and students had seen me ------------ “Inside Edition” a nationally---------- infotainment TV show that might delve into such politically significant subjects as Madonna’s decision to have a baby.

4. Discussion Points

1. Can class be fully equaled with money?

2. What can be inferred from the statement that Boston University and MIT and Harvard were separated with more than a stretch of dirty water (of the Charles River)?

3. Why did social class study become a mutually beneficial process?

4. How is the system designed? What factors are of paramount importance for your career?

5. What questions raised by the author would get positive answers in your case?