The Selfie as Class Signifier

Miss Sheryl doesn’t have a computer and definitely wouldn’t know what a selfie is. Her cell runs on minutes and doesn’t have a camera. Like many of us, she’s too poor to participate in pop culture. She’s on public assistance living in public housing and scrambles for odd jobs to survive.

Salon’s D. Watkins reports from East Baltimore, where “everything looks like ‘The Wire’ and nobody cares what a ‘selfie’ is.” Watkins points out that it requires a certain amount of money to participate in certain aspects of pop culture. [via]

Photo: Paul Sableman

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