Date: Sun, 5 Jan 1997 15:01:01 -0500 From: dhenwood-AT-panix.com (Doug Henwood) Subject: Re: M-I: Dissatisfaction with premises of debate on workers. At 1:09 PM 1/5/97, Louis R Godena wrote: >Carrol doesn't much like this discussion on the revolutionary potential of >the working class: > >>The problem in part (as I believe has been stated several times) >>is with how the working class gets defined. And behind that problem >>lies the nefarious vagueness of the concept of a "middle class." It >>seems to me that the latter is a ghost category with no material >>content. (I believe Doug in one of his posts estimated the working >>class to constitute about 70% of the population. I think I said that 80% of the employed U.S. labor force consists of nonsupervisory workers. > That is I believe >>a conservative estimate, and in any case does not leave a lot of >>room for a "middle class." > >I doubt most sociologists would agree that the term "middle class" >represents some sort of ghostly apparition; on the contrary, the category >is fairly a benchmark for most demographics on the entire US population. >By contrast, the sweeping inscription "working class" has more or less >pejorative connotations for most Americans, evoking images of stunted >ignorance or drab uniformity (Sheree Conrad, *et al*, *The Politics of >Denial* [Cambridge, Mass., 1996: MIT Press]. In fact, I would be so >bold as to say that the only quarters where the echo of "working class" >resonates with any postitive force would have to be the "Left" (which has >precious few workers in or around it) and the university (whose cloistured >and privileged lifestyles are far removed from the vagaries of real working >class life). Actually, I thought "working class" was a very unfashionable category around universities, enraptured as they are by postism. I'm going to re-post something I sent to this list in November which offers some empirical refutation of Louis G's assertions here. But before I do, I'll point out that according to the Luxembourg Income Study, when measured in purely income terms, the U.S. has the smallest middle class in the First World, and the largest poverty population. That is, despite the popular image of universal middle-classness, this is the most polarized society in the North. And here's the polling data. >Allow me to indulge my taste for vulgar empiricism (hi Jerry! you still >here?) by reporting on results of a search of the Roper Public Opinion >database. > >For a country that suuposedly identifies itself as universally middle >class, most people in the U.S. seem to consider themselves "working class." >The most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll's version of the question, >for example, reports 56% of adults self-identifying as working class, vs. >43% middle class. (That is, in the jargon of the trade, a forced-choice >response, since no other options besides ignorance or refusal are >available.) Polls using the identical question wording since the early >1980s show virtually no change in the proportions of the response. > >Polls with more choices reduce the proportion of working class responses. A >U.S. News and World Report survey from 1993 had the following results: > >upper class 3% >upper middle 16 >middle 23 >working 34 >lower middle 18 >lower 4 >unsure/refused 2 > >Still, working class outpolls (unmodified) middle - and when the total for >lower-middle, which strikes me as fairly synonymous with working class, is >added to working class, we reach 52% of the population. This looks like the >inverse of Lake Woebegon, the mythical land where everyone is above >average. > >Here's a detail from the 1996 ABC/WP poll. Note the breakpoints in class >i.d. by income and education, with only college grads and $50,000+ >households identifying themselves predominantly as middle class. > >Also, I suspect "middle class" is a partly racialized category in the >American mind, though of course the black/white contrast in the response >can also be seen as reflecting social reality. > >Doug > >---- > >(c) 1996 Roper Ctr for Pub Opinion Res. All rts. reserv. > >00260298 QUESTION ID: USABCWP.6018 Q912 > >042 When asked, most people say that they belong to either the middle >class or the working class. If you had to make a choice, would you call >yourself middle class or working class? > >Middle class 43% >Working class 56 >Don't know/No opinion 1 > >SAMP MIDDLE WORKING DK/NO >SIZE CLASS CLASS OPINION > >756 Male 44 55 1 >756 Female 41 57 1 >1K+ White 47 53 1 >129 Black 22 77 1 > 72 Hispanic 31 69 0 >147 < HS grad 24 75 2 >524 HS graduate 32 67 1 >344 Some college 41 59 * >321 College grad 67 33 1 >172 Post grad 77 23 * >301 East 45 55 1 >361 Midwest 43 56 1 >537 South 42 57 1 >313 West 43 56 1 >448 Republican 54 44 2 >454 Democrat 38 61 * >547 Independent 39 60 1 >135 < $12,000 27 71 3 >190 $12,000-19,999 28 71 * >241 $20,000-29,999 27 73 0 >381 $30,000-49,999 43 55 2 >277 $50,000-74,999 57 43 * >210 $75,000 & over 76 24 0 >319 Liberal 36 64 1 >638 Moderate 43 56 1 >519 Conservative 48 50 1 >270 18-29 years old 32 67 1 >348 30-39 44 55 1 >339 40-49 44 56 * >227 50-59 46 53 1 >160 60-69 45 52 3 >157 70 and over 52 46 2 >263 Union household 33 66 1 >1K+ Non-union hh 45 54 1 > >ORGANIZATION CONDUCTING SURVEY: ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST (ABCWP) >SOURCE: ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST POLL > >SURVEY BEGINNING DATE: 03/14/96 >SURVEY ENDING DATE: 03/17/96 >SURVEY RELEASE DATE: 03/00/96 > >INTERVIEW METHOD: Telephone >NO. OF RESPONDENTS: 1512 >SURVEY POPULATION: National adult > >DESCRIPTORS: GROUPS Doug -- Doug Henwood Left Business Observer 250 W 85 St New York NY 10024-3217 USA +1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax email: <dhenwood-AT-panix.com> web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html> --- from list marxism-international-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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