>if the folks in the 60s were doing it to signify their identification with
>the worker who, by all accounts, is a "wage slave" and today's kids are
>doing it to signify their identification with the imprisoned, i would
>suggest to you that both do it for similar reasons -- both groups are seen
>as the "oppressed"
That wasn't true of the working class in the 60s, at least not within my awareness. San Francisco longshoremen were identified with their hall. And their reputation for being respectable people.
But oppressed wasn't the case. Almost all work involved skills learned over time and were for the most part well compensated. The single breadwinner family was the norm in the factory working class and most farms were long established and farm subsidies generous. The working class had a place to go to in the summer for extended vacations, either owned or leased from year to year. Company tuition assistance for children was common.
Surprised me that nowhere in this thread did I find mention of benetton<sp?> Could be that I didn't spell it right.
And I guess that you would probably see prisoners as oppressed but Mumia is heard widely. He might be said to share the reputation for being respectable with the longshoremen.
But I can't tell if the discussion is about fashion or signification.
Martin