Yoshie: Wojtek's framing of the 'real question' comes very close to saying that sexism, homophobia, etc. might be 'functional' to 'working-class solidarity.' His framing casts the working-class in implicitely straight male terms as well.
Wojtek: Well, solidarity has its dark sides too (cf. male bonding). There is a tradeoff between what you can do as an individual and what power you have as a group.
Yoshie: Besides, whatever 'anti-individualist' or 'collectivist' norms may have prevailed among peasants, enforcement of sex/gender norms in factories isn't a matter of peasant 'attitudes' carried over to the urban/industrial environment.
Wojtek: It might be a ritualistic behavior that long lost its utility, like for example, hunting or fishing. Hence I posed it as a question to what degree it is ritualistic and to what degree it still maintains solidarity.
What interests me is an empirical explanation of the phenomenon at hand, rather than casting it in normative terms.
Carrol: I would imagine a good deal of spontaneous workers' culture (and not just blue-collar workers) (a) Is mostly a way to "get through the day" (Doug has discussed this recently) and (b) has its dark side, as any culture developed in direct subordination to capital would, no doubt. Part of the task of marxists, etc. is to help sort out the usable from the destructive.
I won't try to go further, because my brain is currently mostly glue, but I think the thread is important.
Carrol