The story of the working class is the story of the majority. It is the story of those who build, clean, care, transport, stock, and sustain: often invisibly, often without recognition.
By Matthew A. McIntosh
Public Historian
Brewminate
Introduction
Walk down any city street at dawn and you’ll see them: the people who make the world work while most of society is still asleep. They clean the offices, prepare the food, drive the buses, build the houses, and keep the machines humming. They are the working class, not an abstract category, but the majority of humanity. Yet history shows that while their labor sustains entire nations, their voices are too often dismissed, their needs disregarded, and their dignity ignored. They are treated as if they were the invisible cogs of a vast machine, assumed to keep turning without complaint or rest.
For generations, this paradox has defined social order. From the industrial mills of the nineteenth century to the service and logistics jobs of the twenty-first, workers have faced stagnant wages, precarious employment, and persistent disrespect from the very systems they uphold. Research confirms that the material challenges are severe: working-class men, for instance, are experiencing higher rates of health decline, job loss, and social isolation than at any point in modern history. These conditions are compounded by cultural stigmas that frame workers as disposable, undeserving, or even responsible for their own struggles.
Recent surveys highlight how widespread the sense of frustration and betrayal has become. A Jacobin report on working-class attitudes found deep skepticism toward political elites and a recognition that the economic system disproportionately benefits those at the top. Meanwhile, analysis from the Center for American Progress shows that over 60 percent of the U.S. labor force lacks a four-year degree and continues to shoulder the bulk of economic insecurity, yet receives little targeted policy support.
What emerges is not simply a story of hardship but of structural neglect, a pattern stretching across centuries, dressed in different clothes but unchanged at its core. The machine is relentless, demanding labor without pause, and assuming that the gears will never grind to a halt. This article traces that enduring reality: the burdens carried by the working class, the systemic forces that perpetuate them, and the possibilities for reimagining a society that no longer takes its foundation for granted.
Defining Terms and Scope
When we talk about the “working class,” we are not invoking a single, uniform group, but rather a vast and varied majority. In the U.S. alone, about 60.7 percent of the labor force lacks a four-year college degree, the most common definition of working-class status, which means tens of millions of people whose livelihoods depend directly on wages rather than capital or professional credentials. This majority spans factory floors, classrooms, construction sites, hospitals, restaurants, delivery routes, and retail counters. It includes both those in physically demanding jobs and those in service positions where exhaustion takes the quieter form of emotional labor.
But the working class is also profoundly diverse. Gender, race, ethnicity, geography, and generational identity shape how these challenges are experienced. Women disproportionately bear the double burden of low-paid service work and unpaid household responsibilities. Communities of color, especially Black and Latino workers, face wage disparities and higher unemployment rates even when educational levels are equal. Rural workers struggle with job scarcity and underinvestment, while urban workers are often trapped in cycles of low pay and high living costs. The “working class,” in short, is less a monolith than a fractured mosaic held together by shared vulnerability to precarity.
Historically, the category has been shaped as much by power as by occupation. During the industrial revolution, working people were cast as expendable, their long hours and hazardous conditions justified in the name of progress. Today, the rhetoric has shifted but the underlying dynamics remain. Politicians praise “hardworking families” in speeches, yet public policy often undermines their security. Sociologists have noted that the working class has become increasingly invisible in cultural narratives, except when it is scapegoated as the cause of social or political unrest.
Recognizing the scope of this class is essential, because it forces us to confront an uncomfortable truth: the majority of the population is struggling with systemic neglect. To talk about “the working class” is to talk about most of us, even if popular discourse often frames them as a separate category, as though society itself were not carried on their backs.
Main Challenges and Pressures
Stagnant Wages and Rising Inequality
Perhaps the most persistent challenge for the working class is that wages have failed to keep pace with productivity or the rising costs of living. While corporate profits and executive compensation have soared, median hourly wages for non-college workers have remained largely stagnant over the past four decades.
Studies show that workers today produce far more value than their mid-twentieth-century counterparts, yet the gains are captured almost entirely by the wealthiest households. This widening gap has entrenched inequality, ensuring that the working class provides the labor while others reap the surplus.
Precarious Jobs and Employment Insecurity
Stable, unionized manufacturing positions that once sustained families and communities have been replaced with precarious forms of employment: gig work, short-term contracts, part-time shifts, and zero-hour schedules. This insecurity leaves workers unable to plan for the future, vulnerable to sudden job loss, and dependent on piecemeal income streams. The COVID-19 pandemic made these vulnerabilities starkly visible, low-income service workers were the most likely to be laid off or forced into unsafe workplaces, often without benefits or protections (Brookings). Now, automation and artificial intelligence loom as the next wave of disruption, threatening to further erode stable employment for millions.
Lack of Protections and Benefits
The working class also bears the brunt of weak labor protections and eroded safety nets. Union membership has fallen to historic lows in the United States, reducing collective bargaining power and leaving workers with fewer means to secure higher wages, health care, and retirement benefits. Many jobs provide no paid sick leave, limited health insurance, and inadequate retirement contributions, leaving workers one crisis away from financial ruin. In industries like warehousing, agriculture, and construction, occupational hazards and injuries remain routine, reflecting systemic disregard for worker safety.
Health and Social Strains
Beyond economic hardship, working-class life often carries heavier health and social burdens. “Deaths of despair” (suicides, alcohol-related illnesses, and drug overdoses) disproportionately affect working-class men, who face declining life expectancy in many regions.
Chronic diseases, stress-related conditions, and mental health struggles are also more prevalent, exacerbated by food insecurity, environmental hazards, and lack of access to affordable health care. Social structures once anchored by steady employment and community institutions have weakened, leaving many working-class families isolated, with fraying networks of support.
Cultural Stigma and Class Disdain
Equally corrosive are the cultural narratives that stigmatize the working class. Popular media frequently portrays low-wage workers as lazy, irresponsible, or morally deficient, reinforcing stereotypes that excuse systemic inequality. This demonization is not new; in Britain, for example, the rise of the “chav” stereotype functioned as a way to scapegoat the poor. In the U.S., the trope of the “welfare queen” has long been weaponized to delegitimize working-class struggles and redirect blame. The result is a cycle of shame and alienation, where workers are not only materially disadvantaged but also socially degraded.
Political Alienation and Betrayal
Finally, the working class has been consistently sidelined in political life. Decades of broken promises, from both conservative and liberal leaders, have left many workers skeptical of political institutions altogether. Recent polling from Jacobin and the Center for Working-Class Politics found widespread distrust of elites, combined with a sense that neither major party truly represents working-class interests. This alienation has fueled apathy in some quarters and populist backlash in others, as disillusioned voters search for alternatives in a political system that treats them as expendable.
Historical and Theoretical Perspectives
The Industrial Baseline
The struggles of today’s working class are not new; they are echoes of centuries-old dynamics. During the Industrial Revolution, factory owners extracted long hours from men, women, and even children under grueling conditions, with little regard for safety or dignity. Workers were often seen as interchangeable parts of the industrial machine, bodies to be used until broken and then replaced. The idea that prosperity could be built on exploitation was not hidden but openly justified as the necessary price of “progress.” Early labor movements, from strikes in the textile mills to the rise of trade unions, emerged precisely because of this tension between wealth accumulation at the top and immiseration below.
The Decline of Solidarity and the Rise of Fragmentation
In the twentieth century, labor organizing and union strength temporarily counterbalanced elite dominance. The post–World War II era in the United States, often remembered as a time of middle-class expansion, was in large part the product of strong collective bargaining, wage standards, and social safety nets. But beginning in the 1970s, neoliberal economic reforms (deregulation, privatization, union-busting, and the globalization of supply chains) steadily eroded those gains.
As labor protections weakened, inequality widened once again, and solidarity fractured. Today, scholars note that working-class identity has been marginalized, fragmented, and in some cases deliberately erased from academic and political discourse.
Marx, Braverman, and Class Analysis
The theoretical foundations for understanding this pattern are longstanding. Karl Marx argued that under capitalism, workers are systematically alienated, separated from the product of their labor, from one another, and from any sense of control over their lives. Harry Braverman, writing in Labor and Monopoly Capital in the 1970s, described how technological change and managerial control degraded labor, stripping workers of skill and autonomy in the name of efficiency. Both frameworks emphasize that exploitation is not accidental but structural, built into the very logic of profit-driven economies.
Global Comparisons
The situation is not confined to the United States. Across the globe, the working class faces similar dynamics, though the intensity varies depending on the balance of labor protections, political systems, and cultural contexts. In Scandinavian countries, for instance, stronger unions and welfare states have shielded workers from some of the worst precarity.
In contrast, many workers in the Global South face conditions strikingly similar to nineteenth-century factory life: long hours, low wages, and few protections, often producing goods for wealthier nations. This global comparison underscores that working-class struggles are not anomalies but constants within capitalist systems.
Cycles of Reform and Resistance
History also reveals cycles of reform that emerge when inequality becomes unsustainable. The labor uprisings of the nineteenth century, the New Deal reforms of the 1930s, and the labor rights expansions of the mid-twentieth century all demonstrate that pressure from below can reshape social order. Yet these gains have always been partial and precarious, vulnerable to rollback by elites determined to reassert control. Understanding this cyclical nature is crucial: the working class has never been “given” progress; it has had to fight for it, often at great cost.
Contemporary Data and Voices
Surveying the State of the Working Class
Recent research provides stark evidence of the pressures faced by workers today. A comprehensive report from the Center for American Progress found that workers without a four-year degree make up nearly two-thirds of the U.S. labor force, yet they face disproportionate economic insecurity, wage stagnation, and limited opportunities for advancement. This majority is not marginal but central, yet their struggles remain largely invisible in policymaking and public discourse.
Working-Class Men Under Strain
One of the most striking portraits comes from a study on the lives of working-class men, which documents how this demographic faces higher rates of unemployment, social isolation, and “deaths of despair” than other groups. Rates of drug overdose, alcoholism, and suicide are significantly higher, reflecting both economic precarity and declining social support networks. The report emphasizes that these outcomes are not merely individual tragedies but systemic consequences of disinvestment in working-class communities.
Political Attitudes and Alienation
Polling data also underscores the extent of political alienation. The CWCP–Jacobin Working-Class Attitudes Report revealed widespread distrust of political elites and frustration with a system seen as catering primarily to the wealthy. The survey found that many working-class respondents supported economic populist policies, such as raising the minimum wage and expanding public health care, but were deeply skeptical that either major political party would deliver them. This disillusionment has contributed to voter apathy in some regions and populist backlash in others.
Contradictions Within the Class
While common threads unite the working-class experience, the data also shows deep contradictions. Racial and gender inequalities persist within the working class itself, with women and workers of color consistently paid less than their white male counterparts for similar work.
Geographical divides are also sharp: rural workers often contend with economic stagnation and underinvestment, while urban workers face spiraling living costs that consume stagnant wages. These divisions complicate efforts at solidarity and make it easier for elites to fragment the class politically.
Lived Experience
Behind the statistics are millions of individual stories: the warehouse worker clocking twelve-hour shifts with no sick leave, the home health aide juggling multiple jobs to make rent, the retail clerk navigating unpredictable schedules that prevent childcare planning. Surveys and case studies reveal that workers are painfully aware of being treated as expendable, praised as “essential” during crises, then discarded once their labor has been squeezed dry.
A Collective Voice, Quieted but Not Gone
Despite this, there is a thread of resilience. Workers continue to organize in new ways: from grassroots campaigns to union drives at major corporations. These voices insist that the struggles are not isolated failures of individuals but systemic injustices demanding collective remedies. The data shows both a profound alienation and a simmering potential for renewed working-class movements.
Structural Root Causes and Mechanisms
Capital Accumulation and Profit Logic
At the heart of working-class hardship lies the logic of capital itself: wealth is generated not by ensuring worker well-being, but by extracting maximum labor at minimum cost. The system rewards efficiency, scale, and shareholder returns, not security or dignity for those who produce the value. Economists point out that while productivity has grown dramatically since the 1970s, wages for typical workers have barely moved, a divergence that reflects the systematic capture of gains by capital owners (Economic Policy Institute).
Policy Choices That Favor the Wealthy
The struggles of the working class are not inevitable; they are products of policy. Tax codes that privilege wealth over wages, deregulation that empowers corporations, and austerity measures that strip public services all reflect deliberate choices by those in power.
Over decades, reforms once meant to protect workers, from labor rights to welfare safety nets, have been eroded, leaving households exposed to the shocks of recession, illness, and job loss (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities).
Financialization and Shareholder Primacy
Since the late twentieth century, corporations have shifted from production-centered models to financialized ones, where the primary obligation is to deliver quarterly returns to shareholders. This has fueled offshoring, wage suppression, and relentless cost-cutting. Entire communities have been hollowed out as factories closed, replaced by service-sector jobs that offer lower pay and fewer benefits. As one scholar put it, “shareholder value” has become a mantra that treats workers as expendable inputs rather than human beings.
Globalization and Offshoring
Global supply chains have allowed corporations to chase the cheapest labor worldwide, pitting workers in different countries against one another. While globalization lifted some out of poverty in the Global South, it also devastated working-class communities in deindustrialized regions of the Global North. The result has been economic dislocation, declining wages, and the erosion of stable employment, all while multinational profits soared (Brookings).
Technology and Automation
The advance of automation and now artificial intelligence compounds these pressures. While technology has always displaced some forms of labor, the scale and speed of AI threaten entire sectors, from trucking to retail to white-collar support work. Without protective policies, these shifts risk deepening precarity and exacerbating inequality. The workers who keep the system running may once again be told their labor is obsolete, even as the wealth generated from these innovations flows upward (MIT Technology Review).
Cultural Narratives and Ideological Control
Beyond economics, cultural narratives sustain inequality by framing hardship as a matter of personal failure rather than systemic design. Politicians and media elites often insist that poverty results from laziness or bad choices, obscuring the reality of structural barriers. This ideological control makes it harder for workers to see their struggles as collective, which in turn weakens solidarity and resistance. By shifting blame to the individual, elites preserve a system that consistently extracts from the many for the benefit of the few.
Why Empathy, Solidarity, and Change Are Hard
Political Capture by Elites
One reason the working class struggles to secure change is that political institutions are often captured by elites. Lobbyists, donors, and corporate PACs wield disproportionate influence over legislation, ensuring that policies favor capital interests over wage earners. Even when reforms are proposed, from raising the minimum wage to expanding health care, they are frequently stalled or watered down by lawmakers dependent on wealthy backers. For many workers, the lesson is clear: politics is a game rigged for the few, not the many.
Media Narratives and Blame-Shifting
Mass media reinforces this imbalance by shaping narratives that stigmatize workers. When poverty or unemployment is discussed, coverage often highlights “individual failure” rather than systemic causes.
The trope of the “undeserving poor” has deep roots in U.S. culture, recycled through stories about “welfare queens” or “lazy workers.” This language narrows public empathy, framing inequality as the fault of the very people most harmed by it. It also fosters division between segments of the working class, turning potential allies against one another.
Fragmentation Within the Working Class
Solidarity is further undermined by divisions within the working class itself. Differences in race, gender, geography, and political identity are exploited by elites to prevent unified resistance. For example, white working-class voters in rural areas may be encouraged to see their struggles as distinct from those of urban Black or Latino workers, even though their economic challenges are strikingly similar. This fragmentation dilutes collective bargaining power and keeps movements from reaching critical mass.
Weak Institutions of Collective Power
The decline of unions has left workers without a strong, centralized mechanism for organizing. In mid-twentieth-century America, unions provided not only bargaining leverage but also a sense of community and solidarity across industries. Today, union density has fallen to about 10 percent of the workforce, limiting workers’ ability to negotiate collectively or exert political pressure. Grassroots movements and new organizing campaigns show promise, but they face legal, financial, and cultural obstacles.
Symbolic Gestures Without Structural Change
Finally, many reforms offered to workers come in symbolic or surface-level forms. Politicians and corporations alike issue public praise for “essential workers,” but material conditions often remain unchanged. Wage boosts during crises are rolled back when the headlines fade; corporate diversity campaigns rarely address systemic inequality in pay and benefits. These gestures create the illusion of progress without altering the structures that perpetuate exploitation.
Pathways, Proposals, and Resistance
Reviving Labor Organizing
The most direct path to improving working-class conditions remains the oldest: collective organization. Unions once served as the backbone of worker power, securing higher wages, shorter workweeks, and benefits through collective bargaining. While union density has collapsed in recent decades, new waves of organizing, from warehouse employees at Amazon to baristas at Starbucks, signal that workers are rediscovering the value of solidarity (NPR). These efforts face fierce resistance, but they represent the seeds of a potential revival.
Expanding Labor Rights and Protections
Reforms could also strengthen the legal scaffolding around workers. Raising the federal minimum wage, mandating paid sick leave, ensuring access to affordable health care, and protecting retirement benefits would provide a floor beneath which no worker could fall. Stronger labor law (including penalties for union-busting, limits on exploitative scheduling, and broader coverage for gig workers) would restore rights that have eroded under decades of deregulation.
Universal Social Protections
Some propose a more ambitious approach: universal guarantees that shield workers from insecurity altogether. Universal health care, childcare subsidies, housing support, and guaranteed income floors would reduce the link between survival and precarious employment. These measures are not utopian, many European countries already provide them, and they allow workers to bargain with employers from a position of security rather than desperation.
Rebuilding Communities Through Investment
Economic restructuring also requires investment in the places that working people live. Revitalizing deindustrialized regions, funding infrastructure projects, and supporting sustainable industries could provide stable, dignified employment while rebuilding civic life. Policies like the Green New Deal framework, though controversial, illustrate how climate and labor policy can be woven together to create both jobs and long-term security.
Alternative Models of Work
Beyond reforming existing systems, some advocate alternative economic models. Worker cooperatives, employee-owned firms, and experiments in workplace democracy offer ways to redistribute power within production itself. These models show that the economy need not be organized solely around shareholder value, but can prioritize human dignity and collective well-being.
Cultural Change and Class Identity
Resistance is not only material but cultural. Reclaiming working-class dignity requires challenging stigmatizing narratives and reshaping cultural values. Writers, artists, and grassroots activists are already reframing class identity, refusing to accept invisibility or shame. As recent surveys suggest, many workers remain proud of their labor, even as they resent being treated as disposable. Reviving a shared sense of identity across divides could lay the groundwork for renewed solidarity.
Building Political Power
Ultimately, structural change requires political leverage. The working class remains the majority, but only if mobilized can that majority become decisive. Building coalitions that bridge racial, regional, and gender divides is essential. Progressive populist platforms centered on economic justice show promise, but they must overcome entrenched skepticism. As history demonstrates, no reform is granted willingly from above; it must be demanded from below.
Conclusion and Call to Thought
The story of the working class is the story of the majority. It is the story of those who build, clean, care, transport, stock, and sustain: often invisibly, often without recognition, and too often without security. Across centuries, the pattern has repeated: elites reap the rewards while workers are left to shoulder the risks. What has changed are the details of the machinery, not the logic that drives it. The factory has given way to the warehouse, the call center, and the algorithmic gig app, but the fundamental truth remains: society assumes the labor of the many while elevating the profits of the few.
This reality is neither inevitable nor permanent. History teaches us that when inequality becomes unbearable, workers resist. They organize, they strike, they demand. Every advance in labor rights, from the eight-hour workday to Social Security, came not as a gift but as a victory, won through pressure from below. The present is no different. The challenges are daunting, but so too is the potential power of a class that still makes up the great majority of society.
If we continue to see workers as expendable, as mere cogs to be replaced when worn down, the machine itself will eventually break. But if we recognize their dignity, invest in their security, and build institutions that amplify their voices, we may yet reimagine an economy that values people over profit. The working class has carried the world on its back long enough. The question now is whether society will finally choose to see them not as invisible machinery, but as the human foundation without which no system can stand.
Originally published by Brewminate, 10.07.2025, under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license.
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