Blue Collars and Hard-Hats: The Working Class and the Future of American Politics

The working-class American and the poor have common economic and social grievances, say the authors. Both are hit hardest by down-turns in the economy and both are asked to pay the greatest price, in human life, for current national policies. Yet in backlash attitudes and conservative voting patterns, part of working-class America has set itself against the nation's poor. According to the Sextons, this antagonism is misdirected, and derives, ironically, from the very frustrations which should bind these two groups in a natural alliance. The Sextons argue that those intellectuals and opinion makers who today claim to define the liberal and radical positions on national priorities have contributed to this antagonism by failing to acknowledge the still-disadvantaged position of the working class in America. The neglect of this group and of its real grievances has resulted in hard-hat demonstrations and some excesses of patriotism. In this study, the Sextons assert the need for an immediate reawakening of genuine concern for the grievances of the working-class American. They call for progressive leadership to regain the allegiance of this frustrated and volatile political constituency and to forge from among liberals, radicals, the working class and America's poor a new coalition that can effect and sustain a coordinated attack on America's pressing social and economic injustices.