At a client meeting the other day, a Chief Executive pointed me to a book by Joan Williams: ‘White Working Class; Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America’. It is a must for understanding the often complex reasons for the rise of populism in America and more widely. If you read it, get it, and are in a position to help implement solutions, you are on your way to defeating the populist surge we are joylessly experiencing.
Brexit…
But first, Brexit. I know…I know…I wasn’t going to mention it but Theresa May’s speech about a ‘big, bold gesture’ yesterday needs acknowledging. It was dead in the water before she sat down…All positions on Brexit have now become more entrenched – just watch the EU elections. Tories will not agree to a vote on a second referendum, Labour see no advantage in rescuing Theresa May. Her premiership is dead in the water. She will be replaced as PM probably by a hard Brexiteer. Europe will tell them to bog off as they seek a re-negotiated exit. There will likely be an inconclusive General Election and only a second People’s Vote will lay the issue to rest. Much more pain to come.
Back to the book…
Anyway, more positively, back to Joan Williams’ book. She debunks myths about Trump supporters based on strong evidence. They are not poor. Only 12% of his voters had annual incomes below $30k. The white working class who supported him have reasonable incomes and are hard working, blue collar participants who feel patronised by wealthy professionals and want it to stop. Their moral traits of drive and rigorous self discipline are admired more widely across the working class. Trump did better with some minorities than ever expected.
The ‘professional elite’ also like hard work of course but have time for being ‘disruptive’. They avoid the ‘traditional’ of character, morality and family values which are perceived as a key expression of class disadvantage. It sounds like culture wars. Oh dear.
Interestingly, according to Williams, the white working class admire the rich and don’t mind their tax cuts. Brash, wealthy celebrities epitomise the fantasy of being wildly rich whilst avoiding the ‘two-facedness’ of professionals. Think Trump. Many might not like his character but they don’t see him as hypocritical. Umm…
At the other end of the scale Trump supporters dislike those subsidies paid to the feckless very poor who have chaotic lives. Disproportionately black it can lead to racism but this needs to be carefully calibrated with hidden racism elsewhere and the attitudes of more successful ethnic minorities. Impatience spills into affirmative action towards women, some ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ community generally. It is not that the white working class are simply fired up with prejudice. They just feel ignored or insulted by disproportionate attention being focused elsewhere as their economic fortunes ‘tank’. And that, of course, leads us to globalisation, the death of traditional industries at the heart of Trump’s supporters and the popularity of trade wars.
Whether you like them or not, the attitudes of Trump’s supporters need to be understood and dealt with. A Trump supporter described it as ‘We’re voting with our middle finger’. Perfectly put but we don’t want it to continue!
So the solutions lie in re-training for those displaced by globalisation and that does not mean college degrees either but practical mid-level skills training seemingly looked down upon by the governing class. It means careful explaining of where government intervention works. It means compromise on the vital liberal issues of LGBTQ rights, race, religion and gender so they don’t crowd out tackling the economic decline and consequent downward mobility of the white working class. It is not an either, or, but has felt like it. Democrats can’t win alone on an alliance of the professional, mainly white class and minorities, particularly with the Electoral College constituted as it is. But the white working class should not have been disproportionately ignored anyway. Empathy, more evenly spread, is required.
Many won’t like this book and its classifications but it is well researched and written by a social liberal not a conservative. It deserves consideration.
Turning to the UK, some of the analogies don’t work such as America’s focus on religion and intense dislike of ‘big government’. But many do. UK regions outside the South East have felt ignored and patronised. The professions ‘look down’ on those who voted Brexit but standards of living have fallen relatively for many and they don’t feel globalisation or a remote, often arrogant EU, has benefited them. Immigration has increased the sense of threat. Training has too often focused on college degrees and not on those mid-level skills. Then there is housing…The list is long but understanding the cultural conflicts is key to changing attitudes and providing longer term policy solutions.
Just like in America, compromises can be made in all the priorities policy makers face, starting with a genuine understanding of the concerns of those outside the ‘professions’ generally and the South East in particular. We are all reasonable people and whilst Brexit might happen, if we do this, the populists can be repelled.
There you go. A more optimistic end to a blog at last!
Inside Right Politics 