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Subscribe to Working-Class Perspectives - Working-Class Perspectives offers weekly commentaries on current issues related to working-class people and communities. Contributors discuss a variety of issues, from what class means to how it intersects with race and gender to how class is shaping American politics. We welcome relevant comments of 500 words or less.
For questions or comments about this blog, e-mail Sherry Linkon. For assistance with news stories about working-class politics and culture, call or e-mail John Russo, 330-207-8085. Categories
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The State of the Working Class
Listen to Working-Class Perspective editor Sherry Linkon's recent interview about Working-Class Studies on KERA's Think with Krys Boyd.Links
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Category Archives: Contributors
Marilyn and Elvis: Dead Labor in the Age of Streaming
When Marilyn Monroe was cast as a spunky cannery worker in Clash by Night (1952), she took “an all-night bus to Monterey to observe cannery workers and to practice being working class.” As biographer Lois Banner noted, she was even … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Kathy M. Newman
Tagged Class and the Media, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley. Blonde
3 Comments
Essential Workers Take Action
During the pandemic, the working class that had been invisible to many suddenly became “essential.” In some cities, people came on their balconies in their homes to applaud these workers whose jobs in food service, to health care, transportation, and … Continue reading
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 contemporary work, great resignation, quiet quitting, The Bear
2 Comments
Working-class Academics in Poland: Translating working-class studies into the post-communist context
When I encountered Western working-class studies for the first time, I was a little bit confused. Being born in Poland a few years before the democratic change of 1989, I was raised to value Western culture over so-called “relics of … Continue reading
Posted in Class and Education, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues
Tagged working class in Poland, working-class academics
1 Comment
Chums or Comrades: Working-Class Perspectives after Johnson
While Boris Johnson may have lost his premiership in recent weeks, a fascinating and profoundly depressing new book by Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper reminds us of why the story behind the rise to power of Johnson and his circle … Continue reading
Media War in Ukraine: Class and Gender
Like all physical conflicts, the current war in Ukraine is also an ongoing war of narratives, in this case one making heavy use of visual imagery. As they have played out, the threads of these narratives have a telling sequence … Continue reading
Hope and Concern: The WCSA’s 2022 Award Winners
Great plagues subvert our expectations about how things work, opening up new opportunities and widespread mobilization for social change. According to one massive study of historical epidemics, “civil unrest” often follows – as we are seeing now. Whatever direction the … Continue reading
Posted in Allison L. Hurst, Class and Education, Class and Health, Class and the Media, Class at the Intersections, Contributors, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy, Understanding Class, Working-Class Culture
Tagged WCSA, work and class, working-class poetry, working-class studies, Working-Class Studies Association
1 Comment
What Does the New Government Mean for Working-Class Australians?
On May 21st, Australians elected a new government. After a decade of conservative rule at the hands of a coalition involving the right-wing Liberal Party and the National Party, Australia now has a Labor government. The election result certainly sparked … Continue reading
Immersed in the Work of Art
This summer, five different immersive Van Gogh opportunities are circulating in dozens of cities around the world, including Detroit, Buenos Aires, and Perth, Australia. If you live in one of the cities that has (or soon will be) hosting one … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Kathy M. Newman, Work
Tagged class and art, immersive art exhibit, Van Gogh, work
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Envisioning a 21st-Century Worker-Centered Social Compact
On June 2-3, 2022, my colleagues at Georgetown University’s Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor & the Working Poor will host the next installment in a series of convenings, webinars, and discussions we inaugurated in April 2021, inviting a wide range of … Continue reading
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