The title is an indicator of the multiple associations that words have in social contexts. This class is entitled, The Color Blue, playing on the notion of the “blue-collared” worker as well as the “blue-blooded” aristocracy, two extreme positions in the social class continuum. In this course will broadly explore the different class positions that are extant in American society today. However, our main inquiry will be focused on the identity of the "Working Class" as they are depicted (in popular culture and literature) and as they construct and represent themselves. We will do so by concentrating primarily on literature and films. Some of the issues we will consider while engaging the texts are as follows: the way that people work, the jobs they hold, their work conditions, their accessibility to literacy, their literacy practices, and how this affects all aspects of their lives.