Re: the next wedge issue

[joanna bujes <jbujes@xxxxxxxxx>]

ravi wrote:

> what is the working class, in terms of unique characteristics or use
> characteristics that help lend it definition? i am truly puzzled: i go
> to work each day. i am part of the yuppie privileged class. there's a
> guy wearing a union t-shirt who installs furniture in my building. am i
> in the working class? is he? are we both in the same class? what about
> my boss's boss's boss, who has a few million dollars in his bank? what
> about the guy pulling ice in the sweltering heat in madras (pedalling a
> three-wheel cycle), starting at maybe 5am and finishing up some time in
> the night. what about the wife he goes home and beats up when she
> returns from working at three houses as a maid?
My own, perhaps simplistic view, has it that if you have to work to
live, you belong to the working class. Folks who don't have to work for
a living, like capitalists and beggars, do not belong to the working
class (...though I admit, the question is much more complicated in the
case of beggars). It's interesting,in this regard, to note that all
fictional plots involving the rich and the poor changing places, always
have a capitalist trade places with a beggar...not a worker.

Now, of course, it's very important to keep the working class as divided
as possible (cause there's so many of them, they could get dangerous),
so you stress divisions based on race, gender, nations, and relative
income. When you look at the number of hours your average privileged
yuppie works, the stress, the ulcers...the fact that when he/she returns
to their expensive homes at night, they don't actually have the energy
to enjoy their relative material advantage, it makes you wonder whether
that privilege extends any farther than the yuppie's psychological
satisfaction at being above other workers. I was watching Michael
Apted's series of movies ( 7 and up, 14 and up, 21 and up, 28 and up...)
in which he examines the life of a dozen or so people from various
backgrounds (blue collar/professional), and it's really striking, on the
whole, how much saner and happier, the blue collars are compared to the
professionals. In fact, the only privileged type that wound up happy at
all, was a guy (from a rich family) who crossed privilege boundaries, by
becoming a a teacher.

I also take deep umbrage (I've always wanted to use that phrase) at your
characterizing the tonga driver as a wife beater. The notion that the
poorer part of the working class is more violent is very untrue in my
experience. There's plenty of domestic violence among the privileged;
the only diff is that it seldom, if ever, lands them in jail. They're
more likely to get away with it. They're also more likely to get away
with theft, tax evasion, sexual abuse, drug abuse, rape and the like.

So, hmmmm, I'm wondering what the real issue is here? Is it that there's
no such thing as the "working class"? Is it that powerlessness is so
shameful that no one wants to own up to being a memeber of the working
class? Is it about how images have been created and manipulated to make
sure that the working class is eternally warring against itself rather
than its masters?

You decide....I'll follow.

Joanna