The grave sin of "classism"

Fr Harding discusses the role of social division and social class in our lives.

Living and working in another country, particularly as a missionary can change a person in many ways.  It has altered my perception about life and the way our societies are organised.  It has challenged and deepened my Christian faith.

On returning to Australia for a visit, I saw my country through different eyes and with a new perspective.  As an Australian missionary living in Chile, I see Chile differently from the Chileans; in many ways I see it from an Australian perspective. 

Since coming to Chile, my awareness of the role of social class and social division has greatly developed.  This is one area where I have changed and have a different perspective from when I arrived.  One becomes acutely aware of the different social classes.  The 20% of Chileans who live below the poverty line and the 10% of Chileans who live in hard-core dire poverty are in squatter settlements. 

Chile as well as Australia, New Zealand and other Western nations, is undergoing a process of growing secularisation, increasing materialism, consumerism and individualism.  The dominant neo-liberal economic model in Chile promotes winners who are successful and have made it and losers who have not. 

The winners are those who can acquire wealth, success, profit, houses, cars, well paid jobs and health services while the losers are those who struggle with poverty, poor and bad working conditions, unemployment, inadequate housing, sickness and poor educational opportunities.

Chile has tremendous wealth with modern buildings and transport systems, excellent universities, colleges, luxurious beach resorts, mansions, large modern shopping malls and the latest cars.  There is also the tremendous poverty in shantytowns and squatter settlements with malnourishment and poor access to education. 

While I think it’s important to say that the Chilean Government has made some serious efforts to bridge the gap between rich and poor, by trying to improve public spending on housing, education and health, there is a long way to go. 

For the poor what makes the wound of poverty even more painful is the tremendous contrast between them and the great wealth of other Chileans.  The poor urban slum dwellers, the rural campesinos and the indigenous peoples, live in a parallel world to the wealthy.  TV shows and commercials reveal to the poor a world to which they can never in their wildest dreams aspire.

Recently I was at home in Australia for holidays during the summer months.  While the social differences may not be as pronounced as in Chile, they are there.  We also have our winners and our losers.  Visiting the beach areas of the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, Bribie Island and Sanctuary Cove and Brisbane, I saw a lot of luxurious developments for the wealthy. 

The property market is booming.  Canal estates with private jetties seem to be multiplying.  At the same time, poorer social groups congregate in suburbs dominated by an increase in crime, unemployment and a welfare lifestyle.  How much of our television is dominated by materialistic values, by reality shows, by values that promote the success and wealth of the individual self over the common good? 

In Chile as well as in Australia and New Zealand, there are many good and generous people amongst the wealthy who help the poor.  However, as members of the Church, we need to be concerned about growing social divisions between rich and poor and the consequent need to promote social equality, opportunities and economic justice for all.

By working in poor areas of Chile, I became aware of the grave sin of “classism,” of how it overvalues some people, making them feel more important if they are at the top end of the scale, or if they are at the bottom end of the scale, making them feel worthless. 

There is a social stigma attached to being poor.  It is something to be ashamed of and hide.  Every day in Chile, Columbans see the negative effects of the sin of classism on people and hundreds of lives destroyed by poverty, the lack of opportunities for dignified work, good housing, health care and the chance to study.  The poor lie broken and destroyed, strewn across the years of our missionary careers. 

I believe that Columbans working with the poor are affected in many ways that perhaps we don’t realise: emotionally, spiritually, psychologically and physically.

Upon meeting someone for the first time I instantly recognise their place on the social class ladder.  This occurs by observing a person’s physical appearance, their pronunciation and diction, their clothes, interests and of course their homes.  If one comes from the wrong side of the tracks, these social class indicators can lead to rejection, prejudice and discrimination in seeking work.

When I go home on holidays, my experience from Chile instinctively makes me look at Australian society through the prism of social class.  My eyes and ears are open for evidence of social class divisions, discrimination and social stigmas. 

Fr Dan Harding has been a missionary in Chile since 1991.

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