I've narrowed down the various definitions of "working class" to three distinct ones that circulate through the ether of mainstream American political discourse, and pundits seem to shift between them as the situation requires.
1) The Marxist sociological definition - wherein if you earn a living by trading labor for money, you are working class. The factory worker earning $45,000 a year and the cubicle working doing paperwork for $50,000 a year are both working class.
2) A synonym for blue-collar. The business owner who runs an HVAC installation company is working class while the adjunct professor supplementing their meager pay with a job as a barista is not working class.
3) A synonym for "non college-educated". A guy who barely finished high school but inherits 3 car dealerships from his dad is working class.
These are great! I think the problem is that people want all three of these things to be measured by the same network, and they can't be. They're very different!
Perhaps the term working class is antiquated, and it is time to consider policy changes that will provide support for the ‘working poor’ because that is where many folks are now.
I've narrowed down the various definitions of "working class" to three distinct ones that circulate through the ether of mainstream American political discourse, and pundits seem to shift between them as the situation requires.
1) The Marxist sociological definition - wherein if you earn a living by trading labor for money, you are working class. The factory worker earning $45,000 a year and the cubicle working doing paperwork for $50,000 a year are both working class.
2) A synonym for blue-collar. The business owner who runs an HVAC installation company is working class while the adjunct professor supplementing their meager pay with a job as a barista is not working class.
3) A synonym for "non college-educated". A guy who barely finished high school but inherits 3 car dealerships from his dad is working class.
These are great! I think the problem is that people want all three of these things to be measured by the same network, and they can't be. They're very different!
Perhaps the term working class is antiquated, and it is time to consider policy changes that will provide support for the ‘working poor’ because that is where many folks are now.
Education is the new determinant of the working class... of course loan forgiveness is working class friendly!