Now that we are in the thick of the Pennsylvania Primary Election campaign, I keep hearing the phrase "working class voters" being used in news accounts. The working class voters of Central Pennsylvania tend to favor Hillary Clinton, whereas the professionals in Philadelphia tend to favor Obama.

Seems to me that anyone who has a job is a member of the working class. After a long day at the office, I certainly feel like one.

Yet the term generally only seems to refer to those who do manual labor. Why is that? A holdover from colonial days, perhaps?

Wordmatic

As with many terms, it seems to have many definitions (link). How does it differ from wage slave or blue-collar worker?

What Americans call a blue-collar worker is what we British call a working-class person. I imagine an American writer was looking for a synonym for "blue-collar". The term probably arose as a euphemism for a 'lower-class' person. In feudal times, of course, there were effectively only two classes: the aristocracy, who owned all the land and didn't do any work, and the working classes who did all the work. The rise of the middle class came later.

Thankfully, we are much less class-ridden than we were only a few decades ago, but class-conciousness still exists (c.f. Hyacinth Bucket [pronounced "Boo-kay"]).

Coincidentally, I recently blogged about pink-collar workers (a 70s term referring to formerly female-dominated, service-oriented jobs - waitresses, teachers, nurses, and receptionists). As a floor nurse, I frequently perform very physically demanding "manual" labor; but I also regularly rely on my college education and I am expected to demonstrate many "white collar" skills.

While researching the pink-collar term, I found some other spinoffs, including gold collar. Does anyone really use these terms?
In case you want to read my pink post, here is the link: http://www.nurseconnect.com/Community/BlogPostDetail.aspx?PostId=302790

This link explains the whole thing very clearly http://www.epicure.demon.co.uk/3men.html

An outstanding Blog has recently discussed a similar subject, the "middle class" debacle in America. Seriously, though, there are apparently a lot of questions about what "middle class" is, too. In the article I had linked to on my Blog, there were 3 examples given of people with widely disparate salaries ($30,000 with a family of 5; a $60,000 salary for a single woman, and $350,000 for a couple), and they all considered themselves to be "middle classed." The conclusion of the article was that it's a state of mind.

I'd say that "working class" is not a useful term because you are correct, WM, that all of us who work are in the "working class." I consider it a synonym to "blue collar."

Elledee, personally I don't like the "pink collar" term. I find it demeaning. While you may perform some manual labor (lifting patients and the like), even that has to be done using correct principles so that patients are kept safe. Some patients can't be turned at all (some with cervical surgery), some can only be turned on their right or left (those with pneumonectomies), while others must be turned frequently (post-surgicals). Turning patients who are elderly with arthritis or who have an open abdomenal wound with several incisional tubes can be a challenge, and they need a well educated nurse to turn them. Have you ever turned a patient with a chest tube? That really takes care and a firm knowledge base. Plus, if something does go wrong and the tube is pulled out, you'd better know the emergency procedures so that the lung doesn't collapse. And that's just a couple of examples about turning! Put together all you must know everyday, and it's just awesome. Generally, you use your knowledge to make clinical decisions, manage patients, and evaluate plans of care. You make life and death decisions for patients and are legally and ethically accountable for all of them. Your work is so important to humanity so please don't consider yourself pink collared. You are a nurse!

[Stepping down from soapbox]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

Thanks, Kalleh.

I agree with Kalleh that "working class" and "blue collar" are synonyms in this country, because we never had--and in fact, we rejected--an aristocracy. (maybe this is why I can only take Hyacinth Bucket in small doses.) I was also glad to read that the use of the term "working class" is controversial among sociologists, because it is neither an accurate description nor an apt label.

Now blue-collar and white-collar are adjectives that do signify the type of work, the level of education and culture more accurately to me. They invoke the type of clothing traditionally worn (yes, by men) various jobs as the symbol of that type of work. In the U.S. I think we tend to put professionals such as doctors and lawyers on an even higher level than white-collar workers (accountants, business managers).

And now, we hear of green-collar jobs. These are jobs that help to support the environment in some way or other.

Wordmatic