Culture

The Re-emerging Worker

by smkovalinsky | August 27, 2009 at 06:41 pm

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From the New York Times news service: An essay by Sarah Kershaw, "Romancing the Brick: Blue Collar's New Allure"; the following excerpts reveal the re-emergence of the worker as a true respected American class once more:

Whether this nostalgia translates into an actual shift in people’s careers has yet to be seen. Current government employment data does not track white-collar workers entering blue-collar jobs or training for skilled trades. Skeptics doubt that the romancing of manual labor will lead to a permanent realignment of the American work force.
Nonetheless, cultural critics like Crawford say a change is afoot, driven by a kind of collective soul-searching, growing frustration with mind-numbing, abstract office work and disillusionment with corporate America.

In a new book, “Reset: How This Crisis Can Restore Our Values and Renew America,” the novelist and journalist Kurt Andersen predicts that “careers manipulating money will no longer be so seductive to a disproportionate share of our best and brightest.” . . .

The tarnishing of Wall Street and the breakout success of “Shop Class as Soulcraft” by Matthew B. Crawford, the Ph.D. who left academia to become a motorcycle repairman, are probably no coincidence.

As corporate America has shed millions of jobs, Crawford’s philosophical musings on the spirit-restoring value of working with his hands touched a big nerve, quickly becoming a national best-seller and generating widespread publicity.

Certainly, on the campaign trail Obama's soaring oratory bespoke a new working America, where we would "build bridges, create new things". It was an inspirational message of unity, and the unions were behind Obama en force. Obama's talk about investing man-power, time, and funds into a high speed public rail was stunning in its classic aura; promising in its details. So far , little in the way of this return is visible or has been actualized. It is comforting to think the road ahead will be an FDR-era inspired one of community eneterprise.

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EmilyM2

at 20:28 on August 27th, 2009

It was not the only sign that recession-pummeled Americans are indulging in a romance with blue-collar trades, while also questioning the hollowness of white-collar work. The local-food movement has inspired countless people to plant vegetable gardens, while in California the so-called Maker Movement attracts tinkerers and people interested in crafts to festivals where they exchange tips about building and repairing thousands of things, from rewiring iPods to fixing bicycles. Not since the back-to-the-land days of the 1960s and '70s has there been such a rose-colored view of working with your hands. Whether this nostalgia translates into an actual shift in people’s careers has yet to be seen. Current government employment data does not track white-collar workers entering blue-collar jobs or training for skilled trades. Skeptics doubt that the romancing of manual labor will lead to a permanent realignment of the American work force. That means we don’t have to rely much in debt consolidation.

smkovalinsky

at 20:37 on August 27th, 2009

Yes, it remains to be seen if there will be a true re-organization of the work force and types of work. So far, not much in the way of actual change, just nostalgia.

a211423

at 22:02 on August 27th, 2009

I can appreciate the back to land movement and the surge in cottage industries, but is this an interlude response to "the tarnishing of Wall Street" and a measurable shift away from the traditional in the wake of rising unemployment and general disatisfaction with big business? I am going to have to side with the skeptics on this.

If we consider the last hundred years and how technology has shaped our society, one must conclude that the next hundred with advances in technology and science together with environmental demands will shape the jobs of the future. The barometers of change are all around us. Green jobs in sustainable production of energy and fuel; expansion of IT technologies for more efficiency in records management, storage and retrieval; mechanized transit systems like high speed trains; waste recycling of plastics, metal, glass and paper.

smkovalinsky

at 04:40 on August 28th, 2009

Yes. True: There can never be a return to the past. Most likely, a high-tech modification of work, a neo-classical return. An interlude, but not a true return , mainly nostalgia!