File spoon-archives/marxism-international.archive/marxism-international_1997/97-01-07.045, message 1


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>




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