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{{Short description|Economic and social class in the United States}}
In the [[United States]], the concept of a [[working class]] remains vaguely defined, and classifying people or jobs into this class can be contentious. Economists and pollsters in the United States generally define "working class" adults as those lacking a college degree,<ref name="packer-31-10-2016">{{cite journal|last1=Packer|first1=George|title=HILLARY CLINTON AND THE POPULIST REVOLT|journal=The New Yorker|date=October 31, 2016|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/31/hillary-clinton-and-the-populist-revolt|access-date=25 October 2016}}</ref> rather than by occupation or income. Many members of the working class, as defined by academic models, are often identified in the vernacular as being [[middle class|middle-class]], there is considerable ambiguity over the term's meaning. According to Frank Newport, "for some, working class is a more literal label; namely, an indication that one is working."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/239195/looking-americans-mean-working-class.aspx|title=Looking Into What Americans Mean by "Working Class"|last=Inc|first=Gallup|website=Gallup.com|language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-18}}</ref> [[Sociologist]]s such as Dennis Gilbert and Joseph Kahl see the working class as the most populous in the United States,<ref name="The American Class Structure">{{cite book | last = Gilbert | first = Dennis | year = 1998 | title = The American Class Structure | publisher = Wadsworth Publishing | location = New York | id = 0-534-50520-1}}</ref> while other sociologists such as William Thompson, Joseph Hickey and James Henslin deem the lower middle class slightly more populous.<ref name="Society in Focus">{{cite book | last1 = Thompson | first1 = William |last2=Hickey |first2=Joseph | year = 2005 | title = Society in Focus | publisher = Pearson | location = Boston, MA| id = 0-205-41365-X}}</ref><ref name="Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships">{{cite book | last = Williams | first = Brian |author2=Stacey C. Sawyer |author3=Carl M. Wahlstrom | year = 2005 | title = Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships | publisher = Pearson | location = Boston, MA | id = 0-205-36674-0}}</ref> In the class models devised by these sociologists, the working class comprises between 30% and 35% of the population, roughly the same percentages as the lower middle class. According to the class model by Dennis Gilbert, the working class comprises those between the 25th and 55th percentile of society. In 2018, 31% of Americans self described themselves as working class.<ref name=":0" /> Retired American adults are less likely to describe themselves as "working class", regardless of the actual income or education level of the adult.<ref name=":0" /> Those in the working class are commonly employed in [[clerk|clerical]], retail sales, and low-skill [[manual labor]] occupations. Low-level [[white-collar worker]]s are included in this class.{{According to whom|date=October 2020}}▼
In the [[United States]], the concept of a [[working class]] remains vaguely defined, and classifying people or jobs into this class can be contentious. Economists and pollsters in the United States generally define "working class" adults as those lacking a [[American universities|college]] degree,<ref name="packer-31-10-2016">{{cite magazine|last1=Packer|first1=George|title=Hillary Clinton and the Populist Revolt|magazine=The New Yorker|date=October 31, 2016|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/31/hillary-clinton-and-the-populist-revolt|access-date=25 October 2016}}</ref> rather than by occupation or income. Many members of the working class, as defined by academic models, are often identified in the vernacular as being [[American middle class|middle-class]], despite there being considerable ambiguity over the term's meaning. According to Frank Newport, "for some, working class is a more literal label; namely, an indication that one is working."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/239195/looking-americans-mean-working-class.aspx|title=Looking Into What Americans Mean by "Working Class"|last=Newport|first=Frank|website=Gallup.com|date=3 August 2018|language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-18}}</ref>
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==Recent history==
Since the 1970s, economic and occupational insecurity has become a major problem for American workers, their families, and their communities, to a much greater extent than their counterparts in peer countries.<ref>{{cite news |last1= O'Brien |first1=Fergal |last2= Schneeweiss |first2=Zoe |date=June 18, 2020 |title=U.S. Ranked Worst for Workers' Rights Among Major Economies |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-18/u-s-ranked-worst-for-workers-rights-among-major-economies |work=Bloomberg|access-date=July 29, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Ghilarducci|first=Teresa |date=June 14, 2023 |title=New Study: U.S. Tops Rich Nations As Worst Place To Work|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/teresaghilarducci/2023/06/14/new-study-us-tops-rich-nations-in-worst-place-to-work/?sh=403bcced3be6|work=Forbes |location= |access-date=July 29, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/research-publications/where-hard-work-doesnt-pay-off/|title=Where hard work doesn't pay off: An index of US labor policies compared to peer nations|last=Henderson|first= Kaitlyn |date=May 3, 2023 |website= |publisher=[[Oxfam]] |access-date=July 29, 2023 |quote=The US is falling drastically behind similar countries in mandating adequate wages, protections, and rights for millions of workers and their families. The wealthiest country in the world is near the bottom of every dimension of this index.}}</ref> According to [[Matthew Desmond]], the U.S. "offers some of the lowest wages in the industrialized world" which has "swelled the ranks of the working poor, most of whom are thirty-five or older."<ref>{{cite book |last=Desmond|first=Matthew |author-link=Matthew Desmond|date=2023 |title=[[Poverty, by America]]|url= |location= |publisher=Crown Publishing Group|page=62 |isbn=9780593239919}}</ref> [[Jonathan Hopkin]] writes that the United States took the lead in implementing the [[neoliberal]] agenda in the 1980s, making it "the most extreme case of the subjection of society to the brute force of the market." As such, he argues this made the United States an outlier with [[Income inequality in the United States|economic inequality]] hitting "unprecedented levels for the rich democracies."<ref>{{cite book |last=Hopkin|first=Jonathan|author-link= |date=2020 |title=Anti-System Politics: The Crisis of Market Liberalism in Rich Democracies|chapter=American Nightmare: How Neoliberalism Broke US Democracy|url=|chapter-url=|location= |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=87–88 |isbn=978-0190699765|doi=10.1093/oso/9780190699765.003.0004
}}</ref>
Despite, or perhaps because of the well-known limitations that the US [[labor market]], inequality—including deep [[educational inequality in the United States|educational inequality]], and other structural factors set on [[socio-economic mobility in the United States|social mobility in the US]], many commentators find more interesting the idea of [[class culture]]s. Education, for example, can pose an especially intransigent barrier in the US, and not just because of gross educational inequality; culture plays some role as well. The middle class is often recognized in the US by educational attainment, which is correlated with ([[correlation is not causation|but may not cause]]) income and wealth, especially for white men. Members of the working class commonly have a high school diploma and many have only some college education. Due to differences between middle and [[working class culture]]s, working class college students may face [[culture shock]] upon entering the post-secondary education system, with its "middle class" culture.<ref name="What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the Twenty-First Century">{{cite book | last = Zweig | first = Michael | year = 2004 | title = What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the Twenty-First Century | publisher = Cornell University Press | location = New York, NY | id = 0-8014-8899-0}}</ref>
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{{quote|... views were quite varied at every class level, but the values we are calling working-class become increasingly common at lower class levels... Kohn's interpretation... is based on the idea that the middle-class parents who stress the values of self-control, curiosity, and consideration are cultivating capacities for self-direction... while working-class parents who focus on obedience, neatness, and good manners are instilling behavioral conformity.|Dennis Gilbert, ''The American Class Structure'', 1998.<ref name="The American Class Structure"/>}}
Other social scientists, such as Barbara Jensen, show that middle-class culture tends to be highly individualistic, while working-class culture tends to center around the community.<ref name="What's Class Got To Do With It, American Society in the Twenty-First Century"/> Such cultural value differences are thought to be closely linked to an individual's occupation. Working-class employees tend to be closely supervised and thus emphasize external values and obedience.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Sussman|editor1-first=Marvin B.|editor2-last=Steinmetz|editor2-first=Suzanne K.|year=1987|title=Handbook of Marriage and the Family|url-access=subscription|pages=229–230|chapter=9: Social Stratification|department=An Examination of Social Status & Family Life: Working-Class Families|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6XwBwAAQBAJ&
Working class culture can be broken down into subgroup tendencies. According to Rubin (1976), there is a differential in social and emotional skills both between working-class men and women and between the blue-color working-class and college-educated workers. Working-class men are characterized by Rubin as taking a rational posture while women are characterized as being more emotional and oriented towards communication of feelings. This constellation of cultural issues has been explored in the popular media, for example, the television shows, [[Roseanne (TV series)|''Roseanne'']] or [[All in the Family]] featuring [[Archie Bunker]] and his wife [[Edith Bunker]]. These popular television programs also explored generational change and conflict in working-class families. One does need to note, however, that there are great variations in cultural values among the members of all classes and that any statement pertaining to the cultural values of such large social groups needs to be seen as a broad generalization.<ref name="The American Class Structure"/>
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===Political role of the white working class===
{{See also|China shock|Populism in the United States|Producerism}}
According to [[Thomas B. Edsall]], an experienced political commentator, the white working class, defined as non-Hispanic whites who have not completed college, plays a pivotal role in the [[politics of the United States]]. This segment of the electorate is large and volatile and its
The political role of the white working class was re-examined during the [[2016 United States presidential election]], due to the strong support for [[Donald Trump]] by white working class voters. Trump's victory was in part credited to this support in swing states such as [[Wisconsin]], [[Michigan]], and [[Pennsylvania]], that had [[Obama–Trump voters|previously been won]] by his Democratic predecessor [[Barack Obama]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/10/upshot/why-trump-won-working-class-whites.html|title=Why Trump Won: Working-Class Whites|last=Cohn|first=Nate|date=2016-11-09|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-03-18|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Professional pollsters did not predict such a large swing for Trump among the white working class. According to Nate Cohn, the gains that Trump's opponent [[Hillary Clinton]] made among other voter classes "were overwhelmed by Mr.
According to [[Lynn Vavreck]] and colleagues, survey data revealed that economic insecurities mattered to Trump voters most when connected to a racial animus, with the job losses being specifically important when lost to an [[In-group and out-group|out-group]], in a composite they called 'racialized economics'.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lozada|first=Carlos|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BxFnygEACAAJ
Look! You see people cutting in line ahead of you!
==See also==
{{Portal|Society}}
* [[Diseases of despair]]
* [[Social class in the United States]]
*''[[Strangers in Their Own Land]]''
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==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Alvarez |first=Maximillian |author-link= |date=2022 |title=The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke|url= |location= |publisher=[[OR Books]]|page= |isbn=978-1682193235}}
*Rubin, Lillian Breslow, ''Worlds of Pain: Life in the Working Class Family'', Basic Books (1976), hardcover {{ISBN|0-465-09245-4}}; trade paperback, 268 pages, {{ISBN|0-465-09724-3}}
*Shipler, David K., ''The Working Poor: Invisible in America'', Knopf (2004), hardcover, 322 pages, {{ISBN|0-375-40890-8}}
*Zweig, Michael, ''Working Class Majority: America's Best Kept Secret'', Cornell University Press (2001), trade paperback, 198 pages, {{ISBN|0-8014-8727-7}}
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