This American Life 331: Habeas Schmabeas 2007
The right of habeas corpus has been a part of our country's legal tradition longer than we've actually been a country. It means that our government has to explain why it's holding a person in custody. But now, the War on Terror has nixed many of the rules we used to think of as fundamental. At Guantanamo Bay, our government initially claimed that prisoners should not be covered by habeas—or even by the Geneva Conventions—because they're the most fearsome enemies we have. But is that true? Is it a camp full of terrorists, or a camp full of our mistakes? In Act one, Jack Hitt explains how President Bush's War on Terror changed the rules for prisoners of war and how it is that under those rules, it'd be possible that someone whose classified file declares that they pose no threat to the United States could still be locked up indefinitely—potentially forever!—at Guantanamo. Act two explains that Habeas corpus began in England. And recently, 175 members of the British parliament filed a "friend of the court" brief in one of the U.S. Supreme Court cases on habeas and Guantanamo—apparently, the first time in Supreme Court history that's happened. In their brief, the members of Parliament warn about the danger of suspending habeas: "During the British Civil War, the British created their own version of Guantanamo Bay and dispatched undesirable prisoners to garrisons off the mainland, beyond the reach of habeas corpus relief." In London, reporter Jon Ronson, goes in search of what happened. Act three explains that though more than 200 prisoners from the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay have been released, few of them have ever been interviewed on radio or on television in America. Jack Hitt conducts rare and surprising interviews with two former Guantanamo detainees about life in Guantanamo.

Questions to Consider:

1. How does the class system factor into the situation at Guantanamo Bay?
2. Explain the issue from both a conflict and structural-functionalist perspective.
3. Use this story to explain stratification on a global level?

This American Life 62: Something for Nothing
Theoretically, all members of a class system, no matter how destitute they are, can rise to the top. In practice, however, mobility between classes may be difficult for some people. The stories presented in this episode are of people trying to get rich quick, or otherwise make something for nothing. As everyone knows, there's no such thing as something for nothing. You always pay a price.

Questions to Consider:

1. Regardless if it is an attempt to manipulate a lottery system or outlast others in a competition, a story of social class is presented in each of these stories. What do the stories tell us about social class?
2. Compare a structural-functional perspective to a conflict perspective of this episode.
3. Is a sense of false consciousness adopted by the winners of lotteries and car promotions? What might Karl Marx state about that possibility?

Invisible Workforce: An Undocumented Immigrant Caregiver Shares Her Story
Many of those who provide home healthcare services are undocumented immigrants. This clip considers the relationship between Josey, a woman from Fiji and Florence, her elderly employer.

Questions to Consider:

1. What is an “invisible” workforce?
2. How would you characterize the relationship between Josey and Florence?
3. Why do you think that such a large portion of the home healthcare provider positions are filled by those without legal documentation?

Songs of 2012 Mirror Economic Struggle
This Marketplace segment examines how grim economic realities and financial struggle were reflected in popular music of 2012

Questions to Consider:

1. Neal says that there was “a new take on economic hardship in hip-hop” during 2012. What does he mean?
2. What is “salsa con consciencia”?
3. What songs have you heard, recently, that address the current state of the economy?

Though Choices: How the Poor Spend Money
This Marketplace segment examines how those at the economic margins make decisions about how to allocate their scant economic resources.

Questions to Consider:

1. Why do you think that the interviewer was concerned that her observation that the Tinson-Ricardo family’s home did not “look like” the home of a family living in poverty, might be insensitive?
2. Did listening to the stories make you more or less sympathetic to the situation of those living at or near the poverty line?
3. What are some of the difficult choices that these families have to make?
4. What things do you consider “necessities” and what do you consider “luxuries” or “extras”?
5. Why do so many poor children become poor adults?
6. How do these stories highlight the tension between individual decisions and social structure?