Seeing In 3D: A Race, Class, and Gender Lens on the Economic Downturn

In the 8th edition of Race, Class, & Gender: An Anthology by Margaret L. Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins, article 33 Margaret describes the socially depicted economic view as a three dimensional film in which some people may not have the 3D glasses, or socio-economic lenses, to see the picture clearly. She describes society as race-blind, gender-blind, and class-blind, a truth we all know but may not always recognize. Andersen explains that the blurry lines of discrimination can become much clearer under the right intersectional understanding of race, gender, and class when speaking about the "economic downturn" of 2009.

Reports of the economic crisis were usually generic and avoided the women and minorities in their numbers. With the rates of despair they were reporting as a signal of a turn for the worse, African Americans and Latinos had been in this economic recession for centuries. Andersen writes that their presence in the papers was nonexistent. Why is it that those who are affected most seem to be in the shadows of the majority?

The importance of considering race, gender, and class is imperative and often over looked. Andersen describes the public voice of the recession that with a White, middle-class, masculinist focus. Hispanic men had larger unemployment rates then White men. Black and White women are more liable to be of the poor working class then the men of their same race. Why are women’s struggles during the downturn not as news worthy?

Why is it that the main narrative of society remains the perspective of an average White man? Especially in a place as diverse as New York, the prominent newspapers do not highlight the Latino or African American suffering. If we are all feeling the hurt of economic hardship, then shall we all not have a voice on the front page?