We have proposed this as a roundtable discussion for MLA’15 in Vancouver, featuring eight panelists from widely differing institutions, who will come together to consider questions and foster discussion about issues of working as/with the working class in academia. We envision a discussion that explores what it means to be working class at various points within the academic hierarchy, and that seeks to turn what has hitherto been a largely anecdotally-based conversation towards highly practical questions of how best to help students and faculty negotiate these social and cultural positions.