[lbo-talk] RE: working class?

jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net
Mon Oct 17 11:43:18 PDT 2005


On 17 Oct 2005 at 11:43, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:


> Doug:
> > Why do you accept the definition of US working class as "blue collar"
> > and native-born (and, reading between the lines, white)? Why not
> > Latino janitors or Chinese-born waitresses? Why not cable TV
> > installers of any demographic?
>
> Because I believe that the way this concept is used in political discourse,
> it is based on "blue-collar" cultural identity and populist vernacular,
> rather than on the relations to the means of production. Otherwise, the
> distinction between 'working class" and 'yuppies' - which is quite common on
> the left - would make no sense whatsoever.
>
> Wojtek

This makes sense, to a degree, when dealing with the $150,000 software engineer, but not when dealing with the Latino janitors and hotel housekeepers. They are "yuppies" if not "working class"? They are something else left unlabeled?

I think Ravi is looking for a concrete definition for a term that simply doesn't have one.

John Thornton



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