Stolen Narratives: A Sociological Phenomenon

What do you think about when you hear the name Bruce Springsteen? I seem to conjure up the phrases The Boss, All- American, Working Man and blue collar. I see images of the American flag, a muscle car and a gruff lower-middle class guy wearing greasy shop overalls. Perhaps this is because Bruce Springsteen’s song lyrics are steeped in stories of growing up in hardship, clocking into factories and wanting more than anything to get out of his dead-end town. Netflix recently released “Springsteen on Broadway” where Springsteen played a full set and delivered commentary in between his songs. Throughout his monologs, it was revealed that his narrative persona is fictional and not who he authentically is. Bruce Springsteen grew up in a country setting among land and beauty. As an A-list celebrity Springsteen can live anywhere, yet he has decided to take up residence in New Jersey, very close to his childhood home. This is a long shot from the down and out character he plays as a musician.

I do admire Bruce Springsteen’s artistry, story-telling and ability to get almost every person around a camp fire singing with zeal and enthusiasm. I do however, think that this example of “story-telling” draws attention to a larger issue. How often do white, privileged individuals profit off of telling the stories of marginalized identities? This happens far too often, in my opinion. Does anyone remember the book that was published in 2001 entitled Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America? This book was written by an under-cover journalist named Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich, a white upper-middle class woman, goes under-cover as a low wage worker and writes about her experience. Hopeful for wage reform, Ehrenreich published this book which has sold well over one million copies since 2001 and spent nearly two years on The New York Times list of best sellers. That is a lot of exposure, financial benefit and fame for an individual who has not actually lived through a life of poverty. There was a point in time where every progressive friend of mine was recommending this book. Many sociology professors were using this as a required textbook in their syllabi. I could not help but cringe. The point that this book was making, many of us had been making for years. We watched our parents live this story, and we were starting to live this story ourselves. Why now were people listening? Would as many people have tuned in if this book was written by a person of color, who was actually living in poverty?

Society seems to have a problem listening to the truth directly from marginalized backgrounds. I have seen the problems of the poor pushed to the side repeatedly. Voices are often silenced until a majority voice speaks up or intervenes, interjecting their own flare into a story. Often-times, the narrative is skewed and changed when told by a person who is trying a minority identity on for size. That skewed narrative is then somehow all of a sudden accepted as relevant, important or priority even if told many times before from a minority perspective. Ascribing greater worth to a story when told by a majority narrator is an injustice. This is one of the by-products of privilege. We would be naïve to believe that this does not also happen in our circles of influence too.