Powerful reporting on the many ways in which the working class has faced devastating change, against a background of growing individualism and social isolation.
Continuing to believe that we can educate our way into more equitable opportunity without acknowledging these much broader social changes seems almost cruel in these contexts.
As organized labor in this country has withered, an extreme individualism has stepped in as the alternative—a go-it-alone perspective narrowly focused on getting an education and becoming successful on one’s own merit. This works well for some, but for others—especially the two-thirds of Americans over the age of 25 who don’t have a bachelor’s degree—it often means getting mired in an economy of contract work, low pay, and few, if any, benefits.
via The Lonely Poverty of America’s White Working Class – The Atlantic.
Filed under: labor markets, social class, unions
