-
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
Archives
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
Blogroll
Category Archives: Class and the Media
Sidney Poitier: Nobody You Can Boss Around
In the 10 days since we learned of Sidney Poitier’s death there have been hundreds of tributes to Poitier—an undeniable icon. Most of these tributes have focused on Poitier’s brilliant acting, for which he received innumerable awards, as well as … Continue reading
Work is a Real Life Squid Game for the Global Precariat
I’m assuming you’ve heard of Squid Game, but have you also heard that Squid Game is the most watched television show in Netflix history, inspiring 1.65 billion hours of viewing in its first month? This week we learned that Squid … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Kathy M. Newman, Work
Tagged precariat, Squid Game, workplace violence
1 Comment
Who Wants to Be Rich? Working-Class People Would Like Their Share
A recent crop of TV shows — Maid, Succession, Squid Game — have demonstrated that being rich doesn’t lead to happiness. Family, friendship, and other aspects of life are more important. If the world of the rich is filled with … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Sarah Attfield
Tagged rich people, working class on TV
Leave a comment
Dirty Jobs, Essential Workers, and the Infrastructure Bills
Current negotiations over the second infrastructure bill may remind a lot of people of Mike Rowe’s oddly popular series Dirty Jobs. Which makes sense. Watching a man stumble around inside a sewage tank as he gags loudly and directs us … Continue reading
How Government Statistics Define the Stories of the Working Class
One of my favorite media criticism works is British journalist and media professor Brian Winston’s “On Counting the Wrong Things.” He argues that the categories we use to count can themselves lead to misleading conclusions. Deciding to count the number … Continue reading
Blue-Collar Babies: Why America’s Working Class Needs Affordable Child Care
In Netflix’s must-see new series, Maid, Alex (Margaret Qualley) flees a violent boyfriend with her two-year-old in tow, only to discover the gordian knot of being an impoverished, unhoused, single mom. Affordable child care is at the knot’s center. Alex … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Lane Windham, The Working Class and the Economy, Work
Tagged American Family Plan, child care, Maid
1 Comment
“Don’t Get Old”: On Ageing and the Working Class
In the US sitcom Superstore (2015-2021), one of the characters, Myrtle, is an elderly store assistant who is often the brunt of jokes due to the slow pace of her work and her overall dottiness. At one point in the … Continue reading
Some Dreamers of the Rusty Dream
In the new Showtime series, American Rust, set and filmed outside of Pittsburgh, PA, and based on the 2009 novel by Philipp Meyer, we see the aftermath of an industrial collapse so devastating that the fictional town of Buell, PA, … Continue reading
MIA: Workers, Working, and Workplaces
“Hacks is like most stories about creative work: It avoids really showing any.” B.D. McClay, New York Times Magazine B.D. McClay’s epigram works like any good hook: it grabs your interest. So here is another: “In order to entertain audiences, … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, Work
Tagged Dirty Jobs, Films about work, Images of work
1 Comment
America’s Cross-Class Romance with Mare of Easttown
In the waning days of the great pandemic of 2020-2021, something surprising happened: the nation fell in love with Mare of Easttown, a depressing television series about a burned out town, an unsolved murder, and, as the Saturday Night Live … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Kathy M. Newman
Tagged Black Lives Matter, Mare of Easttown, policing
Leave a comment
Working-Class Perspectives 