by Mark Cuban
of working class, 20–21, 39–40
Schiller, Reuel, Forging Rivals, 59
Seattle, manufacturing in, 89
Section 8 public housing subsidies, 100
self-actualization, 18t, 30, 34, 115
self-development, 27, 36, 115
self-discipline, 14, 16–17, 20
self-employment, 26
self-interest, of working-class women, 74
self-worth, merit vs. morality in, 16–17
service jobs, networked, 93–94
Sessions, Jeff, 110
settled-living families, 17–19, 62, 63
sexism, 73–82
in blue-collar jobs, 75
elite displacement of blame for, 82
in elite jobs, 55
embrace of as a way of expressing class anger, 131
in glass ceiling, 73–74, 77
among working-class men, 78–82
sexual harassment, in blue-collar jobs, 75
sexualities, elite comfort with range of, 32–33
Sherman, Jennifer
on community ties, 39
on disability benefits, 98
on fears in rural areas, 66
on gender roles, 81
on government benefits, 22
on working-class moral values, 20, 31–32
sibling rivalry, 56–57
Silver, Nate, 11
“Simpsons, The” (television show), 2–3
sincerity, vs. irony, as class divide, 30
slavery, responsibility for ending, 68–69
small businesses
government regulation of, 103
and immigration policy, 115
social class. See class
social codes, of professional elites, 45
social conservatives, African-Americans as, 111, 112
social equality, 4, 71–72, 130
social history curriculum, 106
social honor
blue-color, loss of, 69–70
elite vs. working-class approach to, 28, 33, 39–40, 77
social networks
of elites, 29–30, 47
of working class, 35–36
social programs. See government benefits
social safety nets
of elites, 21
of working class, 20–21, 39–40
sophistication, elite displays of, 28–29
southern whites
in Democratic Party, 122–123
stereotypes of, 52
spirituality, 27
Springsteen, Bruce, 3
stability, as working-class value, 20, 28, 33, 36–37, 80
Starbucks, 27
Steinbeck, John, Grapes of Wrath, 2
stereotypes
of African-Americans, 63, 117
of southern whites, 52
of women, 79
of working class, 2–3
stimulus program, 98
Stone, Pamela, 81
Strangers in Their Own Land (Hochschild), 28
structural inequality, 23, 111
student loans, 49, 100, 105
Submerged State, The (Mettler), 98
subsidies
for child care, 14, 16
lack of public understanding of, 98
for middle class, 100
through tax expenditures, 100, 105
Supreme Court, U.S., on marriage equality, 32–33
sympathy, norms of, 67
Tablet Pilot, 93
tag-team parenting, 15, 75–76
TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), 22, 23, 98, 105
Task Force on Production in the Innovation Economy, MIT, 85
taxes
on the rich, cuts to, 124
social programs funded by, 13
subsidies through deductions and exemptions in, 100, 105
in trade policy, 114
taxi drivers vs. Uber drivers in San Francisco, 125
teachers
Trump support among, 126
working-class resentment of, 25–26
Tea Party
government benefits opposed by, 21
hostility to government in, 101
on importance of jobs, 124
on regulatory capture, 103
sense of loss in, 68–70
women in, 74
technology, in future of working-class jobs, 93–94
teenage pregnancy, 40
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), 22, 23, 98, 105
tightrope bias, 79
Tilcsik, András, 46
trade policy, 114
traditional values, 18t. See also family values
gender in, 80
of immigrants, 66
meaning of, 31
role in in working-class resentment of elites, 31–33
“trailer trash,” 52
Trump, Donald
anger of supporters of, 3, 6
Clinton’s arguments against, 77, 78–79
educational level of supporters of, 12
on jailing Clinton, 106
Latino support for, 110–111
median income of supporters of, 11
and police violence, 118
racism among supporters of, 63–65
racist rhetoric of, 59–60, 63–64
sexism among supporters of, 78–82
union members’ support for, 126–127
working-class women supporting, 75, 77
truths, elite vs. working-class, 12, 34, 130
two-facedness, 30, 33
Uber drivers vs. taxi drivers in San Francisco, 125
unemployment benefits, 21–22
Unequal Childhoods (Lareau), 53
unions
decline of political impact of, 126–127
in education-to-employment system, 87
working-class distrust of, 2, 26, 124
universal basic income, 84
up-credentialing, 85–86
values. See also family values; traditional values
of immigrants, 66
of Latinos, 110–111
values, of elites
list of common, 18t
merit vs. morality as, 16–17, 63
range of sexualities in, 32–33
work ethic in, 20, 37–38
values, of working class, 16–20
list of common, 17, 18t
morality vs. merit as, 16–17, 63
in resentment of elites, 31–33
in resentment of the poor, 16–20
shared by blacks and whites, 16–17, 18t, 111
shared by immigrants, 66
traditional, 18t, 31–33
work ethic in, 17–20
values voters, Latinos as, 110–111
Vance, J. D., Hillbilly Elegy, 14, 17–21, 29, 45, 106
violence
domestic, 81
police, 116–119
vocational training, 85
wages. See income
wages-of-whiteness strategy, 59–60
wealthy elites
tax cuts for, 124
working-class admiration for, 26
welfare system
cheating in, 21
under Bill Clinton, 23
vs. disability, government spending on, 98
What’s the Matter with Kansas (Frank), 124
What Works for Women at Work (Williams and Dempsey), 79
white privilege, in white working class, 70
white supremacy, 63–64
“white trash,” 52, 59
white working class
admiration of the rich among, 26
Democratic vs. Republican connection with, 121–127
education of, 43–52
fictional depictions of, 2–3
income of, 3, 10, 11
mobility of (see geographic mobility)
moral traits valued by, 16–17, 18t, 111 (see also values)
parenting approaches of, 53–57
poverty among, 3
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br /> racism among (see racism)
resentment of the poor among, 13–23
resentment of professionals among, 25–34
sexism among (see sexism)
stereotypes of, 2–3
strategies for liberal connecting with, 109–119
women
discrimination against (see sexism)
false choice between white working class and, 71, 131
likeability as requirement for, 79
in military, 118–119
women, elite
abortion views among, 115
glass ceiling facing, 73–74, 77
parenting approaches of, 55–56
stay-at-home motherhood among, 76–77
women, working-class, 73–78
abortion views among, 115
on blue-collar jobs, 74–75
family in identity of, 75
on gender equality, 74, 76, 77
part- vs. full-time work by, 16
in pink-collar jobs, 74
stay-at-home motherhood as ideal of, 16, 74–77
Trump support among, 75, 77
work. See jobs; specific types
work devotion, 37–38, 57, 77
work ethic
of African-Americans, 62
of professional elites, 20, 37–38
of working class, 17–20
working class. See also black working class; blue-collar workers; white working class
challenges of jobs of, 14–15
definition and use of term, 10–11
education of, 43–52
elite approach to the poor vs., 4, 5
everyday life of, 14–16
income of, 3, 10, 11
as middle class, 10
mobility of (see geographic mobility)
parenting approaches of, 53–57
racism among (see racism)
resentment of the poor among, 13–23
resentment of professionals among, 25–34
sexism among (see sexism)
Workplace Experiences Survey, 61–62, 71
About the Author
Joan C. Williams is a Distinguished Professor of Law, Hastings Foundation Chair, and Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. Described as having “something approaching rock star status” in her field by the New York Times Magazine, she has played a central role in debates about women’s advancement for the past quarter-century. Williams’s path-breaking work helped create the field of work-family studies and modern workplace flexibility policies.
Williams’s work on social class has influenced scholars, policymakers, and the press. It includes her prize-winning Unbending Gender: Why Family and Work Conflict and What to Do About It (Oxford University Press, 2000) and Reshaping the Work-Family Debate: Why Men and Class Matter (Harvard University Press, 2010) and such widely read reports as “The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict” (coauthored with Heather Boushey, 2010). Williams has played a central role in documenting how work-family conflict affects working-class families through such reports as “One Sick Child Away from Being Fired” (2006) and “Improving Work-Life Fit in Hourly Jobs” (2011). Her Harvard Business Review article, “What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class,” quickly became the most-read article in HBR’s 90-plus-year history. In addition, Williams uses the findings of social science to create stable schedules for hourly workers, and interrupt implicit bias, at major U.S. companies (see www.biasinterrupters.org and worklifelaw.org/stableschedules.org).
Williams has authored more than ninety academic articles and nine books, including her 2014 book What Works for Women at Work: Four Patterns Working Women Need to Know (New York University Press), coauthored with Rachel Dempsey and featured on LeanIn.org. She is one of the ten most-cited scholars in her field. Her work has been covered in publications from Oprah Magazine to The Atlantic. Awards include the Families and Work Institute’s Work Life Legacy Award (2014), the American Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Scholar Award (2012), the ABA’s Margaret Brent Award for Women Lawyers of Achievement (2006), and the Distinguished Publication Award of the Association for Women in Psychology (2004; with Monica Biernat and Faye Crosby). In 2008, she gave the Massey Lectures in the History of American Civilization at Harvard.
Williams obtained a B.A. in History from Yale University, a Master’s in City Planning from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She resides in San Francisco, California, with her husband James X. Dempsey. She enjoys hiking and spending time with her children, Rachel Dempsey and Nick Williams.