councilor.org
| Source | Dave Anderson |
| Date | 01/01/01/23:20 |
| Sociologist Fred Rose has written a significant book entitled "Coalitions
Across the Class Divide: Lessons from the Labor, Peace and Environmental Movements." He argues that progressive social change is sabotaged by conflicts between working class and middle class people. He examines the relations between timber workers in a Pacific Northwest community and environmentalists who want to save old growth forest: "Working-class timber workers and middle-class environmentalists interpret their interests as conflicting because of cultural barriers reinforced by divisive conditions. Loggers and environmentalists come from alien realities, and each side misinterprets the other through its own cultural framework. Timber cutting means much more for logging communities than environmentalists recognize, both psychologically and economically. And protecting species and ecosystems means far more for environmentalists than timber workers perceive--psychologically and in terms of personal interests. These different meanings follow class patterns. "Working- and middle-class lives are regulated and disciplined differently. The working class inhabits a world of necessities imposed by outside powers and authorities. Laborers must conform to work rules and the pace of production. Unions confront this external power by organizing workers' ability to deprive management of their labor. The issue of old growth follows the same pattern of a conflict of interests against the imposition of changes on timber communities and employment. While the working class is regulated by externally imposed rewards and punishments, the middle class internalizes the rules that regulate their lives. Personal goals and ambitions to succeed are developed early and pursued without supervision. In the workplace, outcomes are rewarded rather than tasks being monitored. People choose to work for causes that provide a sense of identity, purpose, and value. For middle-class individuals, protecting old-growth timber is a continuation of their internally motivated actions. "Timber workers and environmentalists also define their identities and social relationships in different, class-specific ways. For the working class, being a member of a timber community with a good reputation defines who one is. Identity comes from being accepted and known, so that stable friendships and work relationships are important. These relations with family members, peers in school and work, and neighbors tend to be inherited in working-class communities. By contrast the middle class defines itself by its activities and accomplishments. Most important, professionals choose their careers, but working for a cause can also be an important source of identity. Nuclear families are mobile to allow people to pursue their careers and interests. So friends and colleagues are chosen often for shared activities and goals. "Because of these class-based cultural differences, working- and middle-class movements have difficulty perceiving their common interests and working together. The middle class is prone to seeing the working class as rigid, self-interested, narrow, uninformed, parochial, and conflict-oriented. The working class tends to perceive the middle class as moralistic, intellectual, more talk than action, lacing common sense, and naive about power. Each side has a different standard for evaluating information, with the working class trusting experience and the middle class believing in research and systematic study. The result is a wide gulf in understandings of nature, sustainability, economics, and human conduct. Worse yet, working-class unions and middle-class environmentalists seek change differently. The working class seeks to build power to confront external threats, while the middle class hopes to change people's motivations, ideas, and morality. When each side feels its options are limited, as in the case of old growth, there is fertile ground for conflict." Rose argues that both the working class and middle class worldviews have their strengths and weaknesses. People need to understand each other. |
Copyright (c) 1998, Joongpil Cho