Where We Stand: Class Matters by
bell hooks
Concise And Clear
Drawing on both her roots in Kentucky and her adventures with Manhattan
Coop boards, Where We Stand is a successful black womans reflection -
personal, straight forward, and rigorously honest - on how our dilemmas of
class and race are intertwined, and how we can find ways to think beyond
them.
Personal Review: Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks
Where We Stand: Class Matters by bell hooks
All books written by bell hooks are powerful, direct, and very brave. Exactly
when I was hoping bell would write a book about class, I discovered this
one. Her writings about love lead to exploration of capitalism and its social
structure more in depth, to strengthen points about the ways class loyalties

and antagonisms prevent love ethic from becoming embraced by the
society as a whole.
What I especially appreciate in Where We Stand are the two quite
extraordinary qualities: a) bell showed us that we can talk and write about
class without using "post-modern" or difficult to comprehend terminology,
and b) she is not afraid to call to action, to change this depressing and
unjust, cruel and senseless system into "a world where we can all have
enough to live fully and well."
She started the book with self-critique, almost apologizing for not having
enough theoretical knowledge to talk about class issues. However, bell is
able to discuss very different aspects of class, such as class ideology (or
the dominant social ideology being the ideology of the ruling class), class
consciousness of the working class and intellectuals, intersections of class,
race and gender, crossing class boundaries, and a vision of a classless
society--society--without class hierarchies or antagonistic classes.
I read somewhere that some book reviews called this book a "novel".
Where We Stand is not a novel, but I prefer to see this as compliment. bell
masterfully intertwined her personal experiences and her family stories into
the general discussion about class. Her feminist methodology brings much
needed approach and analysis of one indivisible social system that is at
the same time patriarchal, capitalist/imperialist, and white supremacist on a
global scale.
bell hooks is always brave and principled. Her integrity is intact as she
writes about the most important issues of our time. In addition, we can
witness that she lives according to her values. She is compassionate and
openly declares her solidarity with the working class and all of the people
that Marx called proletariat. bell chose to live on a smaller income, without
security that institutions provide, and to live simply.
Not only are the topics that bell writes about revolutionary, but she herself
lives as an intellectual capable of leading a revolutionary movement.
I expect some critics to say that all aspects of class are not explored in this
book, nor are those discussed explored in depth. Some will be tempted to
say that bell is using Marx's concepts and creating relatively new
terminology, as would many say that Anthony Giddens (Capitalism and
Modern Social Theory; Class, Power and Conflict) is very much influenced
by Marx. I understand that this book is only her first step, an introduction to
a number of explorations of class issues in the contemporary American
society, as well as one of her first calls for unity and strong advocacy for
abolition of class and all other hierarchies.
Considering much of hooks' social theory, I see most parallels with Erich
Fromm's work. Fromm wrote about "productive love" and "productive
work", but he was also a very sharp critic of capitalism, exploitation, and
alienation from our basic human needs, arguing for "productive humanistic

communitarian socialism". Very much influenced by Marx, Fromm's theory
of class also focuses on raising individual, group, and social conciseness
in order to change the society into a future form that would allow us "to be"
instead of "to have" and fulfill our basic human needs.
In terms of style, bell's way of writing resembles Joanna Kadi's Thinking
Class who reaffirmed that working class members of our society are
among best thinkers and most important agents of social change.
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