Class is a word that elicits strong, and sometimes strange, reactions from many Americans. Once a powerful construct understanding economies and societies, class has been all but banished from the lexicon of social scientists and from the public conversation.
It’s time we put class back in the center of our vocabulary, especially so during this ongoing economic crisis and reset. The impacts of the crisis have been extremely uneven by class – hitting hardest at the industrial working class and their communities.
Over the coming week, I’ll be posting on that, and also on the powerful effects of class on the wealth, innovativeness, and happiness of nations, drawing on a variety of statistical analyses conducted with Charlotta Mellander and my Martin Prosperity Institute colleagues.
We define class simply by peoples’ position in the economy - not by perceived status, level of income, or what we consume, but by the kind of work we do. Conveniently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics keeps detailed statistics on the myriad occupations that make up the U.S. economy.
We identify three core classes:
The working class who work in production, transportation, construction, and related jobs.
The service class who work in jobs like food prep, grounds cleaning, building maintenance, personal care, administrative offices, and community, social, and protective services.
The creative class of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs; artists, designers, media types, and entertainers; and knowledge-based professionals in management, health care, education, and related fields.
I’ll report on the relationship between class and various social and economic outcomes over the next several days, starting with the relationship between class and economic output tomorrow. On Wednesday we turn to class and technological innovation; class and entrepreneurship on Thursday; and class and the happiness of various nations on Friday. Along the way, I’ll also post on the uneven ways that recessions impact different classes, and relationship between class and unemployment, among other things.
Stay tuned.
May 19th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I’m trying to think back to grad school and Marxist theory here…it’s been a while, so correct me if I’m wrong. (This seems like a good place to start when evaluating a discussion on class.)
Marx was interested in a person’s relationship to the means of production, and he saw there primarily being a bourgeoisie, who owned the means of production and a proletariat who worked it. There was also a nobility — a landed gentry class — and peasants, who worked the land, so a similar relationship.
In your class scheme, who owns the means of production for the creative class? One could say all of us, through the stock market. But what about in privately-held companies? What about venture-capital-owned firms? Are venture capitalists creative class members? as are the most junior workers in their companies? Is that what’s different in this version of “class” — owners and workers are in the same one, in some cases?
Just curious …
May 20th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Your marx-based definitions of class, being based on one’s place in the means-end nexus, might seem clearcut definition of class… but the problem is that the occupational groupings are, at times, fuzzy. At least, much fuzzier than is suggested here… or in all of your other work on the creative class for that matter.
For instance, health care workers provide a service, yet are included in the creative class. I could accept that a doctor that develops new procedures is a creative, but a nurse, or family physician, among most other types of health care professions, fundementally provide a service not a creative contribution. So why are they not service workers?
Further transportation workers are working class, yet building maintenance workers are service providers? Seems that transportation workers provide a service and building maintenence workers are for the most part, simply workers (being employed as such).
Now, Entrepreneurs are creatives, this is true. But would a restaurant entreprenuer who works in his business be a member of both the service and creative class? Or how about a contract construction worker… they would seem to be members of the working, service and creative class.
Moreover, research performing higher ed professors are creative to be sure… but aren’t primary and secondary educators, for the most part, service providers.
How about an artist. Are they truely creatives. Sure some… but some, for instance commercial artists, are more likely service providers. Or… are they both?
A production work, on the other hand, is surely a member or the working class. But.. what if they produce a specially designed fabricated product, are they then members of both the working and creative class. Still yet, what if they produce custom made plastic molds on a contract basis… are they then workers, service providers and creatives?
I guess… what I am getting at is that there is so much overlap in these types of definitions that depending on how you decide to slice the pie… you could find whatever correlation or association you want to find.
If you dont find it… you could always just come up with another… for instance a super creative core.