Why do we speak of a "white" working class as a distinct sector of American society, when there are also many people of other races who live by manual labor?
Well, the answer is obvious -- and something Marx appears to have overlooked, in his concept of an international proletariat: A social class is a social entity, a cultural entity. It is not defined strictly by its economic function. Working-class whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians do the same kinds of work -- but they live in different neighborhoods, go to different churches, drink in different bars, belong to different clubs and social circles, and each group mostly marries among itself -- and they view the world rather differently. They're all in the same layer of the cake -- but different and distinct wedges of it.
It is only in the middle and upper classes that those barriers can break down -- which is how we can have a black SCOTUS justice with a white wife, and an ex-POTUS born of a similar union.
These facts are important to political calculations. A message that appeals to one sector of the working class might alienate others.
Well, the answer is obvious -- and something Marx appears to have overlooked, in his concept of an international proletariat: A social class is a social entity, a cultural entity. It is not defined strictly by its economic function. Working-class whites, blacks, Latinos and Asians do the same kinds of work -- but they live in different neighborhoods, go to different churches, drink in different bars, belong to different clubs and social circles, and each group mostly marries among itself -- and they view the world rather differently. They're all in the same layer of the cake -- but different and distinct wedges of it.
It is only in the middle and upper classes that those barriers can break down -- which is how we can have a black SCOTUS justice with a white wife, and an ex-POTUS born of a similar union.
These facts are important to political calculations. A message that appeals to one sector of the working class might alienate others.