Tag Archives: workers

Unemployed Workers of the World Unite?!?

Posted on September 7, 2020 by

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 →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Labor and Community Activism, The Working Class and the Economy, Wade Rathke | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Fishing Industry Workers Struggle to Beat Long Odds

Posted on May 4, 2020 by

A few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re seeing signs of worry about the food supply. Meatpacking plants have closed due to high rates of infection among workers. Farmers plow crops under and pour thousands of gallons of milk down … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy, Work | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Class and the Challenge of COVID-19

Posted on March 16, 2020 by

COVID-19, the coronavirus that is spreading across the world, is wreaking havoc on working people and their families.  Weeks after it burst onto the world scene, the end of this deadly threat is still not in sight.  Although it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Faith and Work Movement Stops Short of Class

Posted on January 27, 2020 by

The faith and work movement in the United States is an important expression of evangelical attempts to reconcile the demands of the modern workplace with the values of the Christian faith. In a recent opinion piece for The New York … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and Religion, Contributors, Issues, Ken Estey, Work | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Notre Dame Cathedral and Questions from a Worker Who Reads (after Bertolt Brecht)

Posted on April 22, 2019 by

When Notre Dame Cathedral caught fire in Paris on April 15, 400 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze. One of those workers was seriously injured, and two police officers were also hurt. Emergency workers risked their lives to remove … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Sarah Attfield, Work | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Class and the Dignity of Work

Posted on February 11, 2019 by

In the week before Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown announced his “Dignity of Work” tour, with events in New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, South Carolina, and his home state, Ohio. The tour placed the working class at … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Issues, Ken Estey, Labor and Community Activism, The Working Class and the Economy, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Worker Portraits: Contradictions and Contingency

Posted on January 22, 2018 by

Paintings and sculptures often represent those with power, not the working class. Yet, a current exhibit at Washington, D.C.’s  National Portrait Gallery, “The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying America’s Workers,” not only highlights workers, it also invites us to consider … Continue reading →

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

The Precariat: Why a Basic Income is Vital

Posted on October 23, 2017 by

We are in the midst of a global transformation orchestrated by powerful financial interests espousing an ideology of market liberalisation, commodification, and privatisation. The global market system they advocate increases economic and social injustice, including widespread precarity. In the face … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Religious Liberty: (Not) For All

Posted on May 29, 2017 by

Freedom of religion is a central idea in the United States. Most descriptions of U.S. history emphasize flight from religious repression as the main motivation for colonial settlement. The U.S. Constitution enshrines the idea of freedom in the very first … Continue reading →

Posted in Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues, The Working Class and the Economy, Working-Class Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Is Class Really Forgotten?: Working-Class Studies Association 2017 Awards

Posted on May 22, 2017 by

Over the last week, I’ve read a couple of pieces in which elite academics highlight their discovery of the importance of class, both noting how the topic has been neglected by academia and ‘the elite’. In a Financial Times interview … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman, Understanding Class, Work | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment