Category Archives: Sherry Linkon

The Bear and the Contradictions of Work

Hulu’s series The Bear, oddly labeled as a comedy, takes viewers inside a hectic, crowded, struggling Chicago sandwich shop that Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen Wright) inherited from his brother, Michael, who committed suicide. The store is a chaotic mess and … Continue reading

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Sherry Linkon, Work | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Fighting Poverty with Classism

I spent part of last week at the Chautauqua Institution, which a friend described as “summer camp for adults.” Its lovely Victorian summer homes, pricey food options, and demographics – skewing older and extremely white – make it feel like … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon, The Working Class and the Economy, Work, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Bucket Toilets and Casseroles: Belonging, Mutual Aid, and Working-Class Survival

This past year of the pandemic has, for many, been one of struggle and isolation. So films about single older working-class women dealing with economic and personal challenges might not seem inspiring at the moment. But the insights they provide … Continue reading

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon, Working-Class Culture | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Beyond Economic Populism

Predictably, politicos and commentators spent much of 2020 debating why working-class voters supported Trump and how the Democrats could win them back. Although we’ve occasionally contributed to these conversations, we’re also getting tired of them. They tend to envision “the … Continue reading

Posted in Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Labor and Community Activism, Sherry Linkon, The Working Class and the Economy, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Rethinking Working-Class Belonging

December always invites us to look back over the past year — the media fills the relatively quiet year-end news cycle with various “best of” lists, and New Year’s seems to demand that we reflect on our own lives. This … Continue reading

Posted in Class at the Intersections, Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon, Understanding Class | Tagged , | 7 Comments

The Class System of Higher Ed Goes Online

Most American colleges and universities moved courses online over the last week. That shift highlights the class disparities of higher education. For example, at Georgetown, by the time the University President announced that classes were moving online, more than 30 … Continue reading

Posted in Class and Education, Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Class Anxiety: Parasite and Joker

A couple of weeks after the South Korean film Parasite won both Best Foreign Film and Best Picture, Donald Trump went on what the Washington Post called a “nationalistic cultural” rant about the film’s awards. He was upset that a … Continue reading

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Sherry Linkon, The Working Class and the Economy, Understanding Class | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Class Culture War

New York Times columnist David Brooks has proven himself both interested in and repeatedly confused by the working class. A few weeks ago, in a piece arguing that Bernie Sanders is wrong to blame capitalism for economic inequality, Brooks wrote … Continue reading

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon, The Working Class and the Economy, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

White Middle-Class Racism

What do you picture when someone refers to the “Trump’s base”? If you’ve watched television coverage of his rallies or read any of the dozens of articles in which reporters and commentators try to explain Trump’s appeal, then you probably … Continue reading

Posted in Class and the Media, Class at the Intersections, Contributors, Issues, John Russo, Sherry Linkon, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Why the Democrats Need to Talk about Race AND Class

In their response to President Trump’s racist tweets telling them to “go back to where they came from,” the four female congressional representatives dubbed “The Squad” tried to shift the debate. Instead of battling over whether the tweets and the subsequent “Send … Continue reading

Posted in Class at the Intersections, Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment