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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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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
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Tag Archives: Working class
Crossroads: American Labor, the Freelancers Union, and Precarity
Several weeks ago, I attended the “The American Labor at a Crossroads: New Thinking, New Organizing, New Strategies” Conference in Washington, DC, sponsored by The American Prospect, the Sidney Hillman Foundation, and the Albert Shanker Institute. It was nice to … Continue reading
The Incredibly Shrinking Working Class? The View from the “Professional” Bubble
In a semi-sympathetic article about unions organizing professional workers, a Chicago Tribune/Los Angeles Times reporter last month provided the following, colossally wrong, picture of American workers: “Professionals account for 62 percent of the U.S. workforce, up from 15 percent in … Continue reading
Shout Working Class
Nearly 18 years ago, at the closing session of a conference on Working-Class Lives at Youngstown State University, we posed this question: if there were a Center for Working-Class Studies, what should it be doing? We heard over 100 suggestions, … Continue reading
Class and the Olympics
By the time you read this the Olympics and Paralympics will be over in London. Both sets of games have been very popular in Britain and have stimulated thousands of column inches of media interest. In amongst the coverage of … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Tim Strangleman
Tagged Class and sports, IOC, London, Olympics, workers, Working class
1 Comment
The Trouble with Work: Rethinking “Working Class”
Last month, I blogged about the challenges of teaching an analysis of the US class structure that recognizes our sizeable working-class majority and critiques the myth of the broad inclusive “middle class.” I closed by questioning what’s at stake for … Continue reading
The Creative Class Joins the Working-Class
How is the so-called creative class faring in the ongoing economic crisis? In three books published in the first decade of this century, Richard Florida argued that America’s future lay in metropolitan regions with a high density of “sexually diverse,” … Continue reading
Movin’ on Down: CMT addresses the Working Class
Country Music Television (CMT) aired a new sitcom last Friday, January 28th, to voluminous pre-media coverage—most of it positive. It is called, surprisingly, Working Class, and it stars blonde amazon Melissa Peterman as Carli Mitchell, a twice-divorced mom with three … Continue reading
Posted in Class and the Media, Contributors, Issues, Kathy M. Newman
Tagged CMT, Ed Asner, representations of class, sitcom, Working class, working-class culture
1 Comment
American History without the Working Class — Again!
As interesting and insightful as American Prospect reviewer Sarah Igo makes it seem, I am not going to read Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character by Berkeley sociologist Claude Fischer. According to Igo, Fischer is … Continue reading
Posted in Contributors, Issues, Jack Metzgar, Understanding Class
Tagged American history, middle class, Working class, working-class culture
9 Comments
On Poverty, Policy, and Real People
When the latest report was released last September, the poverty rate in the U.S. stood at 13.2 percent, the highest rate in 11 years. Given the recession, the increase shouldn’t surprise us, and we’ll probably see higher numbers when the … Continue reading
Posted in Contributors, Issues, Sherry Linkon, The Working Class and the Economy
Tagged Poverty, social welfare, the new poor, Working class, working poor
4 Comments
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