The White-Collar Saviour
Politicians cannot understand the working class, let alone save it
Politicians have long portrayed themselves as everyday people in touch with the needs of the communities they serve. Their battle—and yours, they will remind you—is against the political class and the moneyed elites who pull the strings.
“Vote for me,” they say, “and make your voice heard! I will fight for you!”
This underdog narrative plays well during election campaigns. It allows candidates to be proxies for their voters and their interests, framing their personal victory as something much larger than themselves. It is not a win for them, you see, but rather one for those the economy left behind.
Of course, for most leaders, this narrative collapses under the slightest scrutiny.
The Class Divide
According to the Pew Research Center, 94% of representatives and all but one senator of the 118th United States Congress held at least a bachelor’s degree, compared to about 35% of the general U.S. adult population.
This level of education mirrors the professional backgrounds of members of the U.S. Congress. In White-Collar Government in the United States, Nicholas Carnes found that at no point since the start of the 20th century did former blue-collar workers hold more than 2% of the seats.
The wealthy have always had the time, money, and connections that make running for office much easier. It is difficult to run an effective campaign if you need to work multiple jobs, have minimal paid time off, and don’t have existing ties to networks that can raise funds or support you directly.
Carnes further notes that while both women and racial and ethnic minorities were still underrepresented in Congress at the end of the 20th century, they made strong gains in the period following World War II, both reaching over 10%. Blue-collar workers, however, have seen no such gains and have remained remarkably steady at under 2% of seats.
Elites, unsurprisingly, have always held the power.
Deindustrialization: Policy vs. Inevitability
The deindustrialization of advanced economies and the loss of blue-collar jobs that a robust manufacturing sector provides are decades-old trends; they date back to not long after the post-war boom many in the United States romanticize as being the peak of the American Dream. However, it would be false to assume blue-collar jobs flourished because members of the working class held political power, just as it would be false to conclude the decline came as a class of elites grew their share of power.
Voters elect leader after leader who vows to restore a path to middle-class comfort through a resurgent manufacturing sector, only to watch as more blue-collar jobs vanish. They have never been the ones whose jobs disappeared when the biggest plant in town moved operations to a place where labour was cheaper. After all, they stepped from an air-conditioned office into political office, not from a factory floor.
Crucially, no single policy choice or government-enacted ideology drove deindustrialization; rather, it was a confluence of factors that allowed offshoring to not only work, but work well. Most importantly, technology had to improve to the point where orchestrating supply chains that span the globe was not just possible, but cost-effective and predictable.
In other words, a major reason blue-collar jobs in the Western world thrived for as long as they did was that the white-collar bosses couldn’t offshore them any earlier; it was more economical to manufacture most goods closer to where they were consumed. As that changed for more goods, politicians were easily convinced to drop most trade barriers and make global trade more efficient and thus more lucrative for businesses and their shareholders.
Beware of False Prophets
So, the next time a well-heeled politician tells you they support the working class, I’d encourage you to look past their words and focus on their actions. Ask what they intend to do for you: are there concrete plans or vague promises? Are they offering a realistic path forward or are they looking backwards at a bygone era of prosperity?
The harsh reality is that a white-collar politician positioning themselves as the saviour of the working class is, more often than not, pandering to a crowd they share little with. They are placing themselves in the midst of a struggle to which they do not belong and have no way of winning.
They sure would be happy to win your vote, though.