The symbolic violence of making it too hard just to live

(happened on 10/29/10)

Last Friday on my usual trek up the hill after leaving the ferry, I was waiting for the light at 2nd & Marion. An ancient, red Chevy Cavalier struggled to crest the hill. Its cringe-inducing gears grinding noisily made me notice that the make and model seemed at least 30 years old, a car museum piece. Just as it managed to turn the corner in front of me, the driver leaned over and yelled out the open passenger-side window.

"I'm so sorry!"

Did he see the expression on my face, or was that meant for everyone else waiting at the corner? I shook my head and said, "I don't care." to no one in particular. As he continued down 2nd Avenue less noisily than before, I couldn't avoid seeing the pile of stuff in his back seat. Stacked to the top of the rear window were liquor store boxes and a beige keyboard. I imagined him a Turk, a Greek, or a Bosnian—but who knows? Perhaps I don't think of downtrodden Americans so readily apologizing for their car needing a new transmission. It's all just part of the noise.

As soon as he disappeared down the street his embarrassment, his pleading apology echoed in my brain and I felt sorry for him. Who knows how he acquired the car he was driving and why it was packed to the ceiling with junk? Clearly, this was a man trying desperately to retain some pride independent of his circumstances. And what were those circumstances? Did he live out of his car? I didn't want him to feel ashamed. His pained expression seemed atypical of so many who would have only cursed and driven on.

This scene made me think about a book I recently read: The Spirit Level: Why greater equality makes societies stronger by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. The authors provide well-documented research on the consequences of social inequality. Hierarchy and class distinctions, as they are maintained, affect people almost as profoundly as inequalities in income.

"Bourdieu calls the actions by which the elite maintain their distinction symbolic violence; we might just as easily call them discrimination and snobbery. Although racial prejudice is widely condemned, class prejudice is, despite the similarities, rarely mentioned."

Calling inequities of income and status merely symbolic violence is too mild a description for what really happens to people. I'm sure this man has hopes and dreams. Must those dreams be only to maintain basic living standards that so many others take for granted? People often resent having to witness the misfortune of others, but I fear cyncism forces us to lose touch with compassion. All the green energy and improved food production in the world will make very little difference if we don't find a way  fundamentally to facilitate how people get their basic needs met within the types of labor available to them to procure, housing and health care, for example, not to mention safer transportation.