America doesn't really have a working class
I also suspect that Americans feel that their society is a highly mobile one. John Steinbeck is often (mis)quoted as saying that “socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” But the flip side of this is that a lot of rich Americans see themselves ... See more
Noah Smith • America doesn't really have a working class
Andrei Stoica added
For me, a telling anecdote that first clued me into this hypothesis was when I debated Jacobin writer Meagan Day in 2018. When I pointed out that very few Americans are financially destitute, she responded that “it’s not just destitution, it’s disappointment”, and proceeded to describe her own frustration with the two unpaid internships she went ... See more
Noah Smith • The Elite Overproduction Hypothesis
DJ Scruggs added
As the children of the white working class find themselves in the same position as African Americans, a more traditional social struggle will emerge, based on exclusion of the lower class. It will create alliances that are unthinkable today.
George Friedman • The Storm Before the Calm: America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
The world is controlled by people with the skillset to succeed under capitalism, so it’s hard for them to understand other people’s despair because the system has been perfectly fine for them. Most people who say they dream of socialism are humanities-oriented and aren’t economists and technologists. Politicians either advocate for actions that obv... See more
Ava • modern malaise
sari added
There’s another way to understand Just America, like the other three narratives, and that’s in terms of class. Why does so much of its work take place in human resources departments, reading lists, and awards ceremonies? In the summer of 2020 the protesters in the streets of New York were disproportionately white millennials with advanced degrees m
... See moreGeorge Packer • Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal
I sometimes wonder if there is some implicit classism in people’s worries about unemployment: the rich will know how to use their time well, but the poor will need to be kept busy. I suppose we’ll soon find out.
Avital Balwit • My Last Five Years of Work
Max Beauroyre added
Poor citizens observed rich ones at close quarters and trusted that they too would one day follow in their footsteps. They were not always wrong. A number of fortunes were made by people from humble backgrounds. However, exceptions did not make a rule. America still had an underclass. It was just that, unlike the poor of aristocratic societies, the
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