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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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Tag Archives: workers
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
Christmas (and Class) Behind the Scenes
I love Christmas movies because they are always about work. Want to see executive fat cats who are forced to work on Christmas Eve? Check out Scrooged, Elf, and The Family Man. Want to see elves being mistreated, overworked, and … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Kathy M. Newman
Tagged Elf, Holiday movies, Netflix, workers
2 Comments
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
Fishing Industry Workers Struggle to Beat Long Odds
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 COVID-19, Fishing industry, workers
1 Comment
Class and the Challenge of COVID-19
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 coronavirus, COVID-19, health care, workers
2 Comments
The Faith and Work Movement Stops Short of Class
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 Class and Religion, Evangelicals, Faith and Work Movement, workers
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Notre Dame Cathedral and Questions from a Worker Who Reads (after Bertolt Brecht)
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 Class and the Media, inequality, Notre Dame fire, workers
3 Comments
Class and the Dignity of Work
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
Worker Portraits: Contradictions and Contingency
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
The Precariat: Why a Basic Income is Vital
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
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