- 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
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Category Archives: Issues
The “Other America”: The Poverty and Peril of Domestic Workers
America is mired in a crisis of unprecedented scope and depth. The disruption of the pandemic is draining for all of us, but for many, its consequences are dire. For the millions of people who’ve had little or no work … Continue reading
Reality TV and Real Work in the Fishing Industry
Fishing may be the world’s second oldest profession, but the industry is about as visible as a quiet cousin at a family reunion. Unassuming, keeping to itself, it is largely ignored in talk about work and the economy. All of … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, Work
Tagged Fishing industry, reality TV
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A Law and Order Platform to Unite Working-Class Voters
Donald Trump has positioned himself as the “law and order” president, because the term provides a positive framing for the racially-tinged rhetoric he uses to divide members of the white working and middle classes from people of color. The Guardian’s … Continue reading
The Unsettling
It’s fire season again. Two years ago, my parents lost their home in Paradise. This year, I almost lost mine. I live in Oregon, where scores of fires were stoked up by unusual Eastern blasts of dry wind over the … Continue reading
Undelivered: The DeJoy Scandal and Democracy in the Balance
In this turbulent moment, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy aptly symbolizes the precarious state of both our democracy and the workers on whose shoulder its future rests. Last week, a Washington Post team uncovered seven former employees of New Breed Logistics … Continue reading
Unemployed Workers of the World Unite?!?
Karl Marx’s famous phrase spoke of the unemployed as the “industrial reserve army.” His argument was plain. Creating greater unemployment was a key tool in giving employers the upper hand in forcing down wages and disciplining workers. I can still … Continue reading
No Class: Why You Should Be Getting Your Labor News from Teen Vogue
Last Wednesday NBA players refused to take the court for their playoff games in order to protest the latest police shooting of an unarmed Black man, Jacob Blake of Kenosha, Wisconsin, who survived the shooting but is now paralyzed. In … Continue reading
Working-Class Public Housing in the COVID Spotlight
The Covid19 pandemic has highlighted many inequalities experienced by working-class people — insecure work, unsafe work places, access to health care, housing conditions and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on people of colour. Mainstream media has also covered many … Continue reading
The Hidden Price of an Education: Black and Working-Class in Academe
In August 2004, I entered a doctoral program at Carnegie Mellon University. My family is from Braddock, Pennsylvania, a largely black neighborhood with working-class roots, and they were ecstatic that I would be their first doctor. I did not know … Continue reading