Structure

Class Matters is comprised of a series of chapters written by different writers and reporters selected by Bill Keller, then executive editor of the New York Times and by Times editor Soma Golden. The Times had taken on the challenge of probing major issues that faced the country in the past by unleashing a team of reporters and writers to dig up the facts. They had addressed the problems of poverty and racism. With Class Matters, they obviously have taken on an issue that is not as “in your face” as race and poverty. But as the title suggest, classism exists, it does have ramifications and it does matter.

Keller explains the project in the Introduction and how it was developed so that it would result in in-depth reporting and hopefully in conclusions that would help society contend with classism. Economics reporter David Leonhardt was assigned to...