Concrete Men: The Construction of Working-Class Politics on the Job

This grant is co-funded by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Traditionally, blue-collars workers have been thought to embody American values such as discipline, work-ethic, and responsibility. Today, however, pundits and scholars alike view the White working class as especially vulnerable to a brand of grievance politics directed against racial others and “elites” and are therefore a threat to America’s social and political order. Doctoral student in American politics John Rooker will examine how working-class men discuss and understand politics in their daily working lives. He will conduct participant observation and in-depth interviews for this study.