Class is among the most powerful determinants of a life and among the least acknowledged as an identity — in cultures that prefer the myth of meritocracy, the conditions of your birth are supposed to be irrelevant or surmountable, which makes class consciousness feel like complaint rather than analysis. To develop class consciousness is to see the structure rather than just the individual struggle; to have a class identity is to know where you stand in a hierarchy that affects, in fine detail, what you eat, how long you live, and who takes you seriously.
Juana