As human beings, people instinctively envy others who have more success, wealth, intelligence, power, and relationships. Those people are seen working in white collar jobs more often than they blue collar jobs. For some reason people have gotten it into their heads that working in a white collar job is more respectable. No type of job is more or less important than another. Both the white and blue collar workers were and still are fundamentally important to society, and yet white collar men and women are lifted up and thought of as indispensable while their blue collar counterparts are mere afterthoughts. White collar jobs are considered necessary and imperative in the lives of citizens who need them. Surgeons performing heart surgery and lawyers defending clients are deemed crucial in a world where their services are provided continuously. They went to a college and obtained a specific degree for their different careers. They are highly educated and usually make more money than a less educated person. White collar workers are looked upon as more successful because their higher education has led them to make more money. These men and women also seem to have more authority in society. People tend to amass around the successful, wealthy people to gain their trust and friendship so that maybe their rich friends’ …show more content…
Their jobs stray to the side of physical labor, rather than occupations requiring a high level of education. If someone went to college and obtained a degree, but somehow still ended up in a job in the blue collar field, they would most likely feel as if they were working in a job that was beneath them. Any job considered blue collar usually has a negative connotation associated with it. Even though white collar employees are more respected in the eyes of society, society itself was built up by both blue and white collar
The world of today is a relatively primitive one, even with every advancement that humanity has accomplished we remain primitive in this aspect. There has been progress, even as slow in comparison to that of todays, it is progress.The ignorances and other human flaws are still very existent within every society, regardless of the boundaries between them be it geographical or cultural. Stereotypes and misconceptions exist in the modern society. Stereotypes arise when there is a single radical group who are accepted as the representation of their apparent subculture. Then the ignorant and misinformed take these “representatives’” behavior as a generalization of the entire group. While the less common misconception is made by some incomprehensible anomaly where an entire assumption is based around a single social group, that has never even proved to be true. There is a stereotype that is attached with the College educated community, they are believed to be almost guaranteed success. The fact that they have a degree in their respective field has built a stereotype of the “successful ones.”
When analyzing the article “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” written by Mike Rose, and the article “Shop Class as Soulcraft,” by Matthew B. Crawford, you can see several differences in the strategies they use. Rose’s text was an educational article about the intelligence gained through manual labor trades. Roses intended audience is the well educated, professional class, as well as educators, and individuals working in white collar jobs. His purpose is to prove that not all blue-collar workers need an education to succeed and to bust the stereotype that blue-collar individuals can gain the essential skills and education from their jobs. Crawford also based his article around blue-collar work, he mainly focuses on the values the craftsman, being a craftsman
He claims to relate his mother’s quick and effective decisions, customer interactions, memorisation and problem solving, and his uncle, Joe’s, learning, planning and management skills to that of a white-collar worker. “Preposterous”, some might argue. “You cannot possibly compare waiters and conductors with boffins.” However, the dichotomy between the blue-collars and white-collars are subtle. Regardless of Rose’s claim that blue-collar workers are more efficient and carry a broader skill set, there exists no comparison between the two categories. Granted, the social biases about one’s occupation are irrational; however, blue-collars cannot substitute white-collar workers merely because of their “diverse intelligence”. Given Rose’s experiences, he has colluded blue-collar intelligence with white-collar intelligence. Id Est, he believes that social discrimination against blue-collar workers is fallacious from his observations; thus, their skills are the analogous to white-collar workers. In sum, blue-collar workers are intelligent and important in their respective and applicable fields, and white-collars in theirs’; drawing comparisons between them are like comparing apples and
During the Gilded Age white were understood to be at the top and all other ethnicities were below them as well in the 1941, however during the 1950-1980 things were starting to change but not dramatically. White men in all three periods were allowed to speak their minds and say whatever they wanted because in their minds they understood that they were at the top.4 For example, white men joined forces and created the unions to go against the overbearing power of corporations.5 These corporations c...
As Kendall notes, “the media portrays people who produce goods and services as much less interesting than those who excessively consume them” (429). Viewers want to be entertained, and simply just don’t care about the struggles of the working class. They overlook “low wages (and) lack of benefits” (429) because through caricature framing the media sways people to believe works to be stupid and reckless. Using this frame, they created people such as Homer Simpson, showing people that the working class doesn’t deserve raises, better healthcare, or any such luxuries because they can’t think for themselves. If that wasn't bad enough, the media often characterizes all workers as wanting to transcend their class (429). Through shows such as Extreme Makeover, they depict people who want to spice up their life and improve themselves as people, and that they need help to get to the next level. The media has undercut all of the hard work of this class, and has made people believe that the working class is unavailable, dumb and needs help to be their best self when in fact they are what allows for the success of
Many college graduates are finding it hard to get jobs. The biggest issue is the amount of debt Americans are facing due to the college degree they were told they should have. Colleges have been raising the prices on everything from tuition to books. The government is giving out loans to students without even asking where they’re going to school for, or if they’ll even have a plan to pay off the debt in the future. The mentality is that corporations and business won’t hire someone unless they possess a college degree. Gerald Celente, from Trends Research Institute, says “It makes no difference to have a college degree.” (College Conspiracy Scam - youtube) He wants individuals to have minds and to think for themselves. Many believe that with a degree they can have any car and house they desire and commonly known as the American Dream.
Blue Collar workers today are looked down upon by most of society. People think that if you have a blue collar job you aren’t smart and not successful. But in my opinion, blue collar workers are the backbone of our society, and deserve the same amount of respect as white collar workers. “Blue Collar Brilliance by Mike Rose” explains how blue collar workers are very smart and use a lot of brainpower to get their jobs done. Both his Uncle and mother were blue collar workers and that’s where he got his inspiration to stand up for blue collar workers around the world. He gives us examples of how his own family members were blue collar workers and how they were smart and how they excelled at their jobs. He uses his own experiences to show us that blue collar workers are in fact smart, able to adapt to many different situations, and deserve respect.
In the article, “Blue-Collar Brilliance” by Mike Rose, he begins with an anecdote of his mother working her blue-collar job at a diner as a waitress. Rose vividly describes her common day that is packed with a constant array of tedious tasks she has to accomplish to make her living. The authors goal appears to be making the reader appreciate the hard work of blue-collar workers because society places a stereotype on them as being less intelligent than someone with more schooling or even a white-collar job: “Our cultural iconography promotes the muscled arm, sleeve rolled tight against biceps, but no brightness behind the eye, no inmate that links hand and brain” (282). I agree with Rose’s conclusion that if we continue to place a stigma on
“Intelligence is closely associated with formal education- the type of schooling a person has, how much and how long- and most people seem to move comfortably from the notion to a belief that work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” (Rose 276). My Dad has worked blue collar jobs his entire life. Security guard, lawn service, woodworker, carpenter, plus anything else that involves his hands. He didn’t have any schooling past his high school diploma. But he’s always told me, “Yeah, I wish I went to college, but I’m sure as hell glad I was taught and forced to learn the skills I have now. Like doing things on my own and working with my hands, my work ethic, and my ability to absorb as many things as I could to get the job done.” Blue collar jobs can never be outsourced. There will always be a need for plumbers, electricians, machine operators, carpenters and many, many more
In this article, Williams looks at what she the “glass elevator” which is her term for the advantages that men receive for doing “female-dominate” professions. This was interesting because she looked at why women struggled to succeed in a “male-dominate” position while men seem to be praised in “female-dominate” positions. Something that really struck me from the article was that, Williams suggests the glass escalator really only provides advantages for straight white males. What is intriguing about this is that straight white males are definitely at the top of the hierarchy and everyone else falls below that. Williams states that they receive privileges others don’t, and she is correct because it is seen in our current society. Gender discrimination also goes with racial discrimination. A straight while male would not be judged the same as a gay white male who would not be judged the same way as a straight Hispanic male. This was an eye opening
...but self-employment, in general, seems to predict lower earnings for women. Thus the “competition versus exploitation” eminence between labor market and social course theories is not sufficiently nuanced to capture racial and gender barriers that are either independent of class, as in the concentration of blacks in the South, or that interact with class and labor market, as in the racial and gender barriers to and effects of self-employment, master credentials, and managerial and supervisorial authority. indicated that cleaning lady were not enjoying the advantages of stratum , in earnings and in the return on education , for …. White female manager , compared to black and white male managers. …. however, argues that women in the U.S. are more successful than their European or Asian counterpart in penetrating the glass ceiling to achieve top management positions.
The more educated and diverse a society is, the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class is both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job is also an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change.
Since the year 2000 America has lost 5.5 million manufacturing jobs; 2.2 million of those jobs were lost after 2008 showing a steep decline in the sector that is theorized to decline even faster with more trade agreements being negotiated. Big businesses are essentially relying on America to be a nation of consumers and sustaining an entity of such large proportions without creating anything is un-executable. If businesses just sold products and made nothing the bulk of the money would always go to the nation of makers since the profit for selling is lower than creating. The middle class has always been largely made up of blue collar workers but while they’re being destroyed the white collar sector is not safe. During the 2000’s, a substantial influx of tech jobs being outsourced to India and China was seen. Customer Service Call Centers are being placed in India along with in-house tech assistance departments. White collar jobs previously considered to be safe are being sent offshore including accounting, stockbrokers, data entry, etc. Once considered the holy grail of jobs that canno...
When coming into terms with what a college degree means is simply a certification. In basic terms, a degree is simply a piece of paper certifying you met a certain level of scholastic achievement, but what happens in the class room doesn’t always translate into the real world. College degrees don’t always guarantee a good salary or guarantee a job. There are many high paying degrees, but for every high paying degree, there are two low paying degrees. There are also degrees that have a limited market. Simply having a college degree doesn’t guarantee one will get the job, nor should it. Employees need to bring skills to the table, as well as the ability to continue learning, growing, and providing value for their employer(s). I am not saying people who choose low paying degrees aren’t successful, not even. Many people choose degrees based on what makes them content,...
College graduates have more jobs to choose from. The more years of education one has completed, the more opportunities he or she will have as a potential hire. Some employers would not even consider interviewing a job seeker who has no college education, and many employer...