Working class

The working class is a social class found mainly in industrialised capitalist societies or in urban centres. While some writers dispute the existence of a working class, many sociologists, historians and political theorists make use of the concept in their academic writing.

Working class culture

As the working class is divided among nations, and internally divided along very broad lines of rural, blue collar and white collar occupations, there is no one unitary culture. Working class cultures tend to be identified on national and occupational bases, for instance, Australian rural working class culture or New Zealand white collar working class culture.

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American working class culture

In the United States, the working class is divided between blue-collar workers and white-collar workers.

Related Topics:
Blue-collar worker - White-collar worker

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Social and emotional life

According to Rubin (1976) there is a differential in social and emotional skills both between working class men and women and between the blue-color working class and more sophisticated college-educated workers. Working class men are characterized by Rubin as taking a "rational" posture while women are characterized as being more emotional and oriented towards communication of feelings. This constellation of issues has been explored in the popular media, for example, the television shows, All in the Family featuring Archie Bunker and his wife Edith Bunker and Roseanne. These popular television programs also explored generational change and conflict in working class families.

Related Topics:
All in the Family - Archie Bunker - Edith Bunker - Roseanne

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Sexuality

According to Rubin, who cites as sources Kinsey (1948) and a national survey in Playboy magazine twenty-five years later, working class sexuality has increased considerably in sophistication during the last decades of the twentieth century: duration of foreplay has increased from near zero to an average of 15 minutes; the percentage of married men who have engaged in cunnilingus was reported at 15% in 1948 and at 56% 25 years later. This increase of sophistication has resulted in some dissatisfaction, especially among working class women, who may not enjoy or participate willingly in such practices as fellatio. Pressure to perform has increased which sometimes interacts badly with socially conditioned restraint.

Related Topics:
Kinsey - Playboy magazine - Foreplay - Cunnilingus - Fellatio

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