SOCIAL CLASS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, INTERSECTIONALITY, AND PRIVILEGE

This chapter examines five major issues in multicultural counseling:
1. Social Class
2. Social Justice
3. Intersectionality
4. Neuroscience and Social Justice
5. Various Types of Privilege
Each topic could potentially form the basis of an entire book; this chapter provides an overview of how these areas affect the counseling of culturally diverse individuals.
Importance of social class and social injustice in multicultural counseling underscored by multiple scholarly references (Fouad, Gerstein, & Toporek, 2006; Ivey & Collins, 2003; Vera & Speight, 2003; Warren & Constantine, 2007).
The counseling profession is described as entering a new era propelled by research on social injustice (Chung & Bemak, 2012; Constantine, Hage, & Kindaichi, 2007).
Social justice referred to as the “fifth force” in counseling, alongside psychoanalytic, cognitive-behavioral, existential-humanistic, and multicultural approaches (Chung & Bemak, 2012).

Social Class: Determined largely by income (Smith, 2010), indicating where a person falls on a sociocultural continuum.
Classism: Defined as social class oppression, prejudice and discrimination based on perceived social class differences (Lott & Bullock, 2007).
Classism historically perceived as unidirectional, where those in higher classes exploit and suppress those in lower classes.
Classism impacts self-worth and ability assessments based on economic status (Adams, 2000).

Describe demographics of social class in the U.S.
Discuss social class and social inequality nationally and globally, and their undermining effects on individuals' lives.
Understand and implement basic tenets of social justice in counseling.
Comprehend intersectionality and its relation to race, culture, and religion.
Gain insights into neuroscience's role in social class, environments, and brain health across age groups.
Implement counseling interventions aligned with the social class worldview model.

Social Stratification Theory: A hierarchical system classifying individuals by economic and wealth characteristics, with poverty often positioned as the lowest class (Smith, 2010).
Economic resources influence life opportunities quantitatively (Liu, 2001, 2011). High economic status correlates with better life outcomes.
Social class shapes self-perception and affects community and individual experiences, often having less visibility than race or gender yet vastly influential (Adams, 2000).
Important for mental health professions as low social class is linked with adverse psychological outcomes (Sing-Manoux, Adler, & Marmot, 2003).
Research indicates that poverty increases vulnerability to negative health outcomes including mental health issues like depression and suicide (Adler et al., 2000).
Statistical Context:
- Poverty entails higher rates of substance abuse, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity (Adams, 2000).
- Individuals in poor communities experience heightened violence and exposure to environmental toxins (G. Evans, 2004, 2006).
- Recent research also addresses mental health concerns among wealthier populations, indicating high anxiety and depression rates in affluent youth linked to socio-economic pressures (Levine, 2006; Twenge, 2006).

Structural Classism: Maintained through everyday practices at individual and institutional levels (Adams, 2000).
Classism creates conditions of worth based on social class status, reinforcing hierarchies in economics, lineage, job status, education, etc.
The interplay of social class, classism, and social justice influences individuals' lives throughout various stages, from prenatal development through adulthood.

Three-tiered model of social classes in the U.S. including upper, middle, and lower classes, as informed by a seven-class model (Smith, 2010).
Census Data (2015, from Proctor et al., 2016):
- Upper class: 3% of the population (upper-upper: 1%; lower-upper: 2%).
- Middle class: 40% (upper-middle: 14%; lower-middle: 26%).
- Working class: 30%.
- Lower class: 27% (working poor: 13%; underclass: 14%).
Wealthy individuals often have extensive control over corporations and political institutions, with inheritance playing a crucial role in wealth quality.

American Dream: Belief in meritocracy contrasted by reality which diminished social mobility rates - e.g., underclass becoming increasingly permanent regardless of race (Rank, 2005).
Census Data on Poverty Rates:
- 2013 overview showed varying poverty levels among racial groups; for instance, 27.2% African Americans, 23.5% Latinos, while 9.6% of Whites lived in poverty.

The poverty rate for U.S. children stands at 19.9%, significantly affecting their growth and access to resources.
Discrepancies exist between genders, with notable poverty rates among women of various ethnicities.
Income thresholds: 2015 federal poverty levels for family units defined, highlighting disparity in economic support needed.

Connections between neuroscience and cultural diversity reveal how poverty impacts neurological development and cognitive functioning.
Critical Brain Development:
- Children are born with 100 billion neurons; early experiences shape brain architecture.
- Chronic poverty may expose children to toxic stress affecting brain structures such as the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (Noble, 2014).

Research indicates potential for 'neurogenesis', which allows the brain exposed to poverty to heal through constructive experiences (Noble, 2014).
Emphasis on supportive caregiving and enriching environments to counter detrimental effects of poverty on young children’s brain development.

Culturally responsive strengths-based empowerment emphasizes a client's inherent strengths in the face of societal oppressions.
Counselors should invoke cultural histories and heroes to inspire clients undermined by internalized oppression
Employ strategies like 'neural shield and filter', enabling clients to reinterpret and deflect negative social messages.

The influence of social class on the therapeutic relationship stresses importance of understanding client backgrounds and biases counselors might hold.
Acknowledge classism-related traumas that may affect client perceptions and help-seeking behaviors.

A multifaceted approach is required in counseling, addressing not just individual pathology but also systemic inequities around social class, privilege, and oppression.
Counselors are encouraged to reflect on their own positionalities in relation to social class and to engage actively in advocacy for social justice.

Caste System: Class divisions immutable by individual effort.
Classism: Oppression based on social class differences.
Privilege: Unearned advantages impacting accessibility to resources.
Social Class: Stratified structure affecting power dynamics and resource access in society.
Social Justice: Aim for equitable societal resources and opportunities.

Detailed citations covering various studies, papers, and data relevant to social class, privilege, and counseling practices, all supporting the principles discussed within the chapter.