What exactly is the American working class?

[Yavin4]

Please define it and cite your sources. I think that we're all using various definitions and unless we have an accurate definition, we cannot scold the Democrats' messaging.

My definition would be low skilled, non-college worker whose lone asset is their weekly paycheck, i.e. no home, no retirement account, little to no savings. Bottom 25% household income.

--On edit--
So far in this thread, we haven't come up with an agreed upon definition of the working class, yet we scold Democrats for not messaging them. Maybe this is proof that the messaging is not the true problem.

[Blue Full Moon]

1. Anyone who works to get a paycheck, college or no.

[Yavin4]

2. So, if you're making $500K a year

But living paycheck to paycheck, does that make you working class?

[The Wandering Harper]

3. I guess that depends on the cost of living in your area and whether you're living within your means /nt

[Johonny]

8. The gap between the truly wealthy and the middle class has grown

Today six figure salaries (something that is just a dream to most Americans) is a depressingly little amount compared to what the leisure class earn.

Most STEM jobs take advanced degrees and the people still are essentially working class with about as much buying power as a blue collar worker in the 1960-70s. (house, car etc . . .)

I don't know exactly where the divide is, but in metro areas most people making 100-200 K are still living basically pay check to pay check to pay off a house, car, kids . . . if they're lucky to be able to afford a house . At half a million, though, that's probably close to the line where you have FU money.

[Blue Full Moon]

6. I would consider upper management not.

Salary vs hourly always was the question but some that are salary get paid a lot less than the hourly workers. Owning a house should not be considered. Seemed to be working poor, which would be the situation I grew up in. Lower middle class and upper middle class. Though I would agree that someone making 500 000 is way above middle class.

[RJ_MacReady]

4. Generally yes

As a party we need to speak to non college educated workers again.

[John Shaft]

9. "We"

LOL

?si=urEywPwJcsX-0nBP

[Yavin4]

10. Not all non-college educated workers are also working class.

That's the disconnect. Non-college educated alone does not qualify someone as working class.

[multigraincracker]

11. A lot of English majors work hourly jobs in the car factories.

Can’t take the pay cut to work in their field.

[Dem4life1234]

28. I hate when people say this shit

Most working class voted for Kamala except for the white racists.


Or is working class code speak for only white people?

[The Wandering Harper]

5. I'd agree with your definition

if strike out low skilled and non-college.
My mother was a criminally low paid HHA
and it wasn't for her lack of skill that her charges loved her

[The Wandering Harper]

7. I don't remember the source,

but an intriguing and concise definition I encountered several weeks ago was
working class is anyone not leisure class

[Dlpger61]

12. Your edit statement is true

When the politicians speak of the working class, they are generally talking about the white working class Republican. There is not one message that Democrats can get across to people that listen to a man that during a debate screamed out their eating the dogs, their eating the cats.

Please stop trying to sugarcoat the problem and issue, you know it and everyone on this blog knows it. Everyone that is working and not among those making more than $500k a year and I am being generous are considered the working class.

The working class complains about eggs and gas, but buys gas gussling vehicles that eat up all their money, or pay enormous amounts of money for sporting events, plays, guns etc. But they are complaining about an economy that is the envy of the world at this present time.

Please spare me with the idea of Democrats lack of messaging. Let me leave this with you from Lyndon B. Johnson, “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”

― Lyndon B. Johnson

That is the problem in this country!!!!!!!!! And until this is addressed nothing a Democrat can say to some people. The rich white man has convinced the working class white man that everyone is trying to take something from him.

When Democrats elected Obama, the Republican Party felt that the White House and Presidency had been tainted and lost its value, there was nothing more dignified about it because a Black Man has entered that sacred position. Therefore, the end result is a convicted lying, racist whoremonger, proven racist is better than having another black person in that position. Many here on DU might not have a problem with that, but those on the Republican side do.

[MichMan]

13. I'm college educated and retired

Since I am no longer working, does that mean I'm not working class?

Or was I never working class because I'm college educated?

[Blue Full Moon]

15. Same here

[Yavin4]

19. Do you have assets?

Like a home? A 401K? Savings? I would say that you are retired with assets.

[MichMan]

27. How does that change whether someone is working class or not?

So I'm a retired with assets, college educated white male.

Retired and therefore not working = not working class

College STEM degree = not working class

Have assets = ?

Does that make me working class or not?

[Yavin4]

30. Having appreciable assets mean that you're not dependent solely on your job for income.

You can sell your home, investments, etc. and be able to live.

[MichMan]

34. What job? I'm retired.

[TheKentuckian]

14. What it actually means is the non-wealthy white people

regardless of almost any other factors.

[MichMan]

16. POC can't be working class by definition?

[TheKentuckian]

39. In a sane world, sure. In this one? C'mon you know who they are talking about in this one.

Hell, I'll expand the thought.

They are talking about white dudes and nobody else at all.

[Magoo48]

17. Working class people know they are in the working class.

People not in the working class know they are not in the working class.

[Meowmee]

18. I think it used to mean

Non-college educated in lower income jobs. I don’t know what it means now.

I see a lot of people in our area who live on a cash economy- from all backgrounds, people who do small businesses and things like that- doing repairs, etc. a lot of them I am sure they cheat on their taxes. They don’t report all of their income, so they’re not doing so poorly. I’m not sure if they are considered to be working class or not.

Also many working class jobs pay better than non working class jobs.

[Yavin4]

21. I think that it comes down to pay, education level, and ownership of assets

When I say education level, I mean unskilled. Just because you didn't go to college that doesn't mean that you are unskilled. An experience plumber is not working class. They are middle class since their income can be used to buy assets like a home or a 401K.

The working class's only asset is their weekly paycheck, nothing else.

[Meowmee]

23. Some plumbers make a fortune here

But people making less here still do well in the cash economy etc.

[MichMan]

35. Not even a very modest 401k of a few thousand dollars and a $4000 used car?

The pool of working class people gets smaller and smaller every post.

[wintemark]

20. People who's survival and quality of life is determined by their job.

The working class are people that have to hold down a job to maintain their quality of life and or survival.

I am a salaried engineer and after 10 years in my profession I am finally starting to breath a little easier, but I still have way more in common with the hourly employees than I do with the people at the top.
To me working class people are people that wouldn't be able to maintain housing and food without working a job.
This would exclude people that work but could otherwise maintain their quality of life if they didn't and excludes retirees. And because this is my definition I am excluding social media influencers too.

[Hugin]

22. I guess I'd say if a worker gets a W-2.

[Yavin4]

24. I know someone making $150K a year and gets a W2

Own two homes and get investment income from their 2nd home. I wouldn't consider them working class.

[H2O Man]

25. The definition that

most economists go by is those without college degrees who are employed. More recently, that has been expanded by some to include all blue-collar employees.

[Zeitghost]

26. Everyone has their own deffinition

And almost everyone believes they are in it.

[Yavin4]

32. Which makes political messaging impossible.

How can you craft a message that works on everyone equally. When not everyone is in the same boat economically. If someone has a good job with great benefits, then the ACA or a public option isn't going to work on them.

[Mossfern]

29. I'm going to ask google

and post what their AI's answer is:

AI Overview
Learn more
The working class is a socioeconomic term that describes people who work in jobs that typically have low pay, require limited skill, and involve physical labor. The working class can be defined in a number of ways, including:

Education
The working class may be defined as people who do not have a four-year college degree.

Income
The working class may be defined as people who earn an income that is insufficiently high to place them in the middle class.
Job type
The working class may be defined as people who work in blue-collar or pink-collar jobs.

The working class is often associated with a number of characteristics, including:

A strong commitment to family and community
Economic vulnerability
A solid work ethic
Occupational health risks
Negative cultural stereotypes
Limited access to education

The working class is a diverse group of people, and its composition can vary depending on a number of factors, including race, ethnicity, gender, and industry.

Working class - Wikipedia
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies ...
Wikipedia

Working Class Explained: Definition, Compensation, Job Examples
Investopedia
Understanding the Working Class | Demos
Apr 16, 2018 — The working class today is much more complex and diverse than the white, male, manufacturing archetype often evoked in...
Demos

Show all

Generative AI is experimental.

[Yavin4]

33. Now, ask it to craft a political message based on that definition.n/t

[LearnedHand]

31. Really good wiki article defining "working class"

It includes many variations on membership as well: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Working_class

[ecstatic]

36. the context in which that phrase is used most of the time,

in my opinion, seems to be "blue collar" type workers. Hands on. Not an office job. However, the pay and benefits can be good depending on the field, and they might even be in a union.

One could make the argument that anyone who works a job where actual productivity is required is working class. But again, that's not usually the context in which that phrase is thrown around.

[Ping Tung]

37. The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern. Lord Acton

Followed by the reason:

Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Lord Acton

[KentuckyWoman]

38. Work has changed. Office "factories" are common now.

There's a lot of "white collar" people working in offices that make less money than trash collectors and mechanics. Even less than servers. They have to have permission to go pee. They have production targets. They can be let go because the boss doesn't like their new hair cut in a "right to work" state.

That qualifies as working class even if they don't go home smelling to high heavens.