Recently in the news, there's been a lot of primary political analysis about white working class voters.
Rachel from
Rachelstavern.com asks, "Why does “Working Class” mean white in our political discourse?" Once I thought about the question some more, I realized that she was right, and "white working class" is a symbolic redundancy. Class is kept neatly separate from race. In national media, when do we ever hear about the black or Latino working class? And the Asian-American working class is perhaps the most invisible of all.
There are three major economic stereotypes of Asians that I can think of. The first is the model minority with Asians as elite professionals: software programmer, doctor, engineer. The second is Asians in low-status, service positions such as food delivery and nail care. I'm not saying that these are necessarily undignified jobs, but they're often viewed that way and targeted by racist humor.
Here's a good example from last year. The last stereotype is the small business owner. It's a positive stereotype also connected to the model minority, and like all positive stereotypes, has its dark side.
Of course there are Asian-Americans who work in blue-collar jobs, some unskilled, some highly skilled. In a region like Hawaii, it's impossible to ignore their existence. But they're basically invisible on the national stage.
For an actual balanced and accurate portrayal of Asian-Americans across the economy, I'm recommending
this informative article by C.N. Le.
"Working class" is not a code word for white; the working class is the most diverse social class (it is 60% of America) ranging from migrant workers from Mexico to inner-city African Americans to a white NASCAR fan (I like to avoid using the term "redneck" because it would be classist to use it).
They typical working class white has more in common with the Mexican fruit picker than the stereotypical middle class white. Since the middle class is only 25% of America (the upper middle is 13%, while the upper is 2%. There are distinctions other than wealth, education, profession, and income that determine social class, such as one's pedigree. Although pedigree is only relevant in the upper and perhaps some segments of the upper middle class.) Larry the Cable Guy and Tupac are more normal and better representations of the average American than the stereotypical middle class individual obsessed with their lawn and keeping those with working class roots out of their neighborhood.
"In national media, when do we ever hear about the black or Latino working class?"
The media stereotypes the entire working class as lazy, greedy, and criminal (for instance, the middle class receives euphemisms such as "tax evasion" while the poor and working class are seen as cheating drug dealers).
The media only cares about the middle class. Notice how the media's language always assumes the listener is middle class, and never covers the gross problems of the owning classes, and how the owning classes have a different culture, way of life, and think differently than the rest of the population. For example, an upper class individual would focus on getting their child into Choate, then Oxford or Harvard, and they would wait hopefully for the day they are initiated into the Porcellian (an elite secret society at Harvard).
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