Funferal

Internships and class divisions

Amazing to see the NYT actually pay attention to the class bias implicit in unpaid internships, especially in politics. I must say that I was very lucky to be living at home while I was an undergrad – it allowed me to, for example, work with Flirt FM without being paid regularly (I was on a salary, but the university refused to release the funds for it until I was there 7 months, and my union had intervened). It was in large part my work with Flirt FM that secured me both work and academic placements later on. Not withstanding my parents’ tremendous commitment to my (and my sisters’) personal development, I can’t imagine that taking on such projects would have seemed feasible if I had rent and other costs to consider. And so it seems obvious that (unpaid) internships must damage the social fabric, if we have any pretensions to inclusion and diversity.