America doesn't really have a working class
What we have is a compounded problem, in which people with generational wealth pull the levers on a society that they don’t understand. Whether corporate policies or social welfare or college financial aid, nearly every aspect of society has been designed by people unfamiliar with not only the experience of living in poverty but the experience of l... See more
Rabbit Holes 🕳️ #114
one of the powerful aspects of American society is that those who are economically desperate and socially displaced get to vote, and those who will be falling into the abyss are not a small marginal class but a large, multiracial, multiethnic class containing equal numbers of women and men. Their actions are inevitable and the results obvious. The
... See moreGeorge Friedman • The Storm Before the Calm: America's Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond
Here’s the thing though: “societal formation flight” only works while societies enjoy long periods of stable orientation and aligned heading. Decades of aligned economic interests is the equivalent of long, shared flight segments. If rich, middle class, and working class face a wealth-production frontier that can be expected to last for decades, it... See more
Venkatesh Rao • Narrative Slipstream Effects
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
Will a sufficiently large middle class of people be able to make a living from what they do with their hearts and heads? Or will they be left behind, distracted by empty gusts of ego-boosting puffery?
Jaron Lanier • You Are Not a Gadget (Vintage)
For Sand and Hunt, there is a clear understanding of what must be done. America needs a working-class media. It’s something that has preoccupied me for years. If we thought of it as precariat media, we would also include the falling middle class that I have called the middle precariat (including most freelance writers right now). After the 2024 ele... See more