Tag Archives: working-class stories

I, Daniel Blake and The Power of Working-Class Story Telling

Posted on December 5, 2016 by

Ken Loach’s latest film I, Daniel Blake (2016) was hard for me to watch. I left the cinema with a knot in my stomach and tears in my eyes. It was a visceral experience that brought back memories of my … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Sarah Attfield | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

White Trash, Hillbillies, and Middle-Class Stereotypes

Posted on September 19, 2016 by

During election years white people who do not have bachelor’s degrees (the increasingly common definition of “the working class”) become both a somewhat exotic who-knew-they-were-here-and-in-such-large-numbers object of discussion and a target for freewheeling social psychologizing. Thus, it is more than … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Jack Metzgar, Understanding Class, Working-Class Culture | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Losing the Narrative of Their Lives

Posted on November 30, 2015 by

A study released a few weeks ago, conducted by Anne Case and Angus Deaton, documented a significant increase in the death rate among the white working class in the US, much of it due to suicide and substance abuse. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon, Working-Class Culture | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

‘Struggle Street’: hard-hitting documentary or middle-class voyeurism?

Posted on May 18, 2015 by

A new Australian television show, Struggle Street, has attracted much controversy and commentary. The three-part documentary was commissioned by the public broadcaster, SBS, and made by KEO films. The production company’s web site describes Struggle Street as an ‘observational documentary’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Sarah Attfield, Working-Class Culture | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

We’re Here! We’re Queer! We’re Not Going Shopping!

Posted on August 25, 2014 by

In 2002, when I was soliciting submissions for the anthology Everything I Have Is Blue: Short Fiction by Working-Class Men about More-or-Less Gay Life, I received this message on a Working-Class Studies listserv: “Excuse me for saying so, but isn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Class at the Intersections, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

“Let’s Get To Work” — on the Weekends!

Posted on May 14, 2013 by

I started following Ed Schultz, the beefy, loud mouthed, pro-labor MSNBC anchor on Twitter a year ago last spring, when Pennsylvania education cuts were starting to reverberate across the state, forcing thousands of K-12 schools to cut art, band, music, … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Kathy M. Newman | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

News for the Consumer Class

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

It is no surprise to readers of newspapers – or readers of this blog — that newspapers contain little coverage of labor and working-class economic issues. Although I’d hesitate to say there was ever a “golden era” of labor coverage, there … Continue reading →

Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Guest Bloggers, Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments