At our denominations General Assembly, I had the privilege of attending a talk by Alicia Jackson, professor of history at Covenant College entitled, “In His Image? How Racial and Ethnic Stereotypes Shape Our View of God’s Creation.” I highly recommend it [Note: it’s not currently available online, but she also presented similar material here].
Jackson highlighted several stereotypes that have governed how white Americans view African Americans. Entering this lecture, I thought of myself as having made good progress on the issue of race. I admit to my shame that this lecture helped me see how often I viewed African-American men through the stereotype of the violent black man. I realized this was unjust, and I’m thankful for this lecture because it has helped me begin to view African-American men more justly. I am thankful especially for the African-American men and women in my denomination who have helped me think through these matters in ways I would not have done without them.
These stereotypes have real world effects. Joan Williams describes a famous study of racial discrimination:
My favorite study of racism in the white-collar context is the “Greg”/”Jamal” study. The study sent out identical resumes, some with white-sounding names, some with African-American-sounding names. The study found that Jamal had to have 8 additional years of experience to get the same number of job callbacks as Greg; the higher the quality of the resume, the stronger the racial bias became. (Joan C. Williams, White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America [Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2017], 61).
What is interesting is that Williams describes a similar study with with applicants who indicated a working class background versus a background from what she calls the “professional managerial elites.” For example, “the lower-class applicant was listed as enjoying pick-up soccer and country music and volunteered as a mentor for fellow first-generation college students” (46). What were the results? “The employers overwhelmingly favored the higher-class man: over 16% of his resumes resulted in a callback. Only 1% of [the working class] resumes did so . . .” (ibid.).
Professor Joan Williams contends that Americans are willing to tolerate stereotypes of the white working class that we would not tolerate if spoken of any other group. What Williams asks us to consider is that our rightful concern against wrong stereotypes of women, African-Americans, and other groups (an important cause against which she has fought) should be extended to our consideration of class differences among whites. Helping us understand the white working class and have better discussions about and with them is what her book White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America is all about (HT: Dr. Anthony Bradley for recommending this book on his Twitter feed).
This, of course, is part of the phenomenon that brought Donald Trump to the presidency. “In an era when the economic fortunes of the white working class plummeted, elites wrote off their anger as racism, sexism, nativism—beneath our dignity to take seriously” (3). The working class responded to someone who spoke to them differently.
What are some of those stereotypes?
Before we answer that, it is helpful to consider how Williams defines the working class.
Williams proposes that we think of class in the following way. She defines poor families as those in the bottom 30% of income. The average income of this group was $22,500 (all figures based on 2015 numbers).
The second group is the professional managerial elites (PMEs). This group includes those whose incomes are in the top 20% with at least one college graduate in the household. 16.65% of American households fit into this category. Their average income is $173,175.
The third group the working or middle class. It is the 53% of American families with incomes from the lowest 30% to top 20%, adding households in the top 20% with no college graduate. Their average family income of $75,144.
Here we are discussing the stereotypes that define our view of that middle group, the working class, especially white members of this group.
Williams sets up her chapters as a series of questions about the working class to which she proposes answers. To summarize her book and explain some of the stereotypes that she discusses, I will list some of those questions with quotes that indicate her answer.
- Why do they resent the poor? “All they see is their stressed out daily lives, and they resent the subsidies and sympathy available to the poor. This resentment reflects the realities of working-class lives combined with a woeful lack of graduate-level training in policy analysis (a joke)” (17). They see the poor as hard living and recipients of government handouts. The working class may receive some government handouts, but they tend to view it negatively.
- Why does the working class resent professionals but admire the rich? They feel the PME’s are superficial and sacrifice authenticity to get ahead. “The dream is to live in your own class milieu, where you feel comfortable–just with more money. Brashly wealthy celebrities epitomize the fantasy of being wildly rich while losing none of your working-class cred” (33).
- Why doesn’t the working class just move where the jobs are? The working class does through family connections and other social connections what the PMEs do through money. “. . . in the working class of all races, family ties also involve material help with child care and home improvements—things wealthier families buy. Clique networks help protect working-class families from their vulnerable market position” (36).
- Why doesn’t the working class get with it and go to college? First, two-thirds of adult Americans do not have college degrees. It’s not unusual. Williams notes: “Insistence on college makes sense for professional elite kids: for them, it’s the prerequisite that allows them to reproduce their parents’ class status. But college may not make economic sense of working-class kids. It’s a much riskier decision that may not pay off” (45).
- Is the working class just racist? Racism is a problem across class. “Implicit association test results show that MDs, college grads, and MBAs did not score lower for implicit racial bias than did high school grads” (61). She suggests that it is important for politicians to make a distinction between white supremacists and “people who are basically decent but tired of what they see as ‘political correctness’ that ignores the very considerable challenges faced by working-class whites while directing them to feel sorry for a whole range of other groups” (63).
- Is the working class sexist? Yes. “I am not saying there is no sexism in the working class. I’m just saying that sexism is a pervasive problem that crosses class lines. Deflecting blame onto the working class may be comforting. Just don’t mistake comfort food for insight” (82).
- Don’t they understand that manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back? She says this is not necessarily true. It would just require a different type of industrial policy. “My main point is that elites need to stop implying or stating that the working class should accept its diminished status, and start talking instead of steps toward jobs that provide a modest middle-class life” (88).
Williams recommends that politicians should take a sympathetic look at the concerns of the white working class. She writes, “The white working class is important not only for strategic but also for ethical reasons. Ideally, no politician should ignore whole swaths of the country” (126).
For a Christian, we should certainly take such a concern. Each person is made in the image of God. We all need to heed the call of Jesus to extend our imagination to embrace groups different than our own. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? This is true whether it is the white working class, Hispanic immigrants, or African-Americans.
Whether you agree with Williams or not, her ideas are worth considering as we think about how to process politics in the Trump era, how to further the common good of all our people, and how to move forward with a more helpful political dialogue in our nation.