1. Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO
Daniel Cox, Director of Research
Public
Religion
Research
Institute
WHO COUNTS AS WHITE
WORKING CLASS?
A Proposal for a New Approach
Analysis by
2. Many Approaches to Measuring
White Working Class
How to Define White Working Class:
- Education: Having less than a 4-year college education (Frank 2004;
Brooks 2005)
- Income: Lower third of the income distribution (Bartels 2008, McCarty
Poole and Rosenthal 2008); household income under $30,000 (Texeira
and Abramowitz 2008)
- Occupation: Traditionally blue collar occupation categories (i.e. service
industry, construction, transportation) (Manza and Brooks 1999)
- Self-Identity: Subjective assessment of social class
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America
3. Why Not Income?
Problems with Income:
1. Missing Data: In many public opinion surveys 10-15% of
respondents refuse to answer income question.
2. Geographically and Temporally Biased: Does not capture variation
in living costs between different regions or community types (i.e.
Chicago, IL vs. Jackson, MS) and at different life stages.
3. Household Size: Many income measures are based on overall
household estimates, do not capture variation in household size.
4. Retirees, Unemployed: Does not account for retirees or the
unemployed often on modest fixed incomes, may not reflect their
levels of educational attainment or past occupational prestige.
5. Occupational Prestige: Does not take into account differences in
occupational prestige and earning potential between occupations (i.e.
adjunct professors, professional tradesmen).
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America
4. Why Not Occupation?
Problems with Occupation:
1. Difficult to Collect: It is very time consuming and expensive to
collect occupational data; very few datasets include occupational
questions.
2. No Standard Measure: Unlike education and income, which both
have fairly standardized categories, there is little agreement about
which occupational categories should be included or how they should
be grouped.
3. Retirees, Students, Disabled, Homemakers: Similar to income,
occupation is dependent on being employed. These groups are not
currently employed in an occupation, yet account for a significant, and
in the case of students, a growing part of the American adult
population.
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America
5. Why Not Education?
Problems with Education:
1. Too inclusive: Close to half of the country identifies as white
working class based on this definition.
2. Generationally Biased: Rising levels of education means that older
respondents are far more likely to be categorized as working class,
even if in many respects (income, occupation prestige) they do not fit.
3. Some-College Problem: Many education measures include a “some
college” education category that includes current 4-year students,
college dropouts and people with 2-year associate degrees.
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America
6. A New Education-Based Definition of
White Working Class
Requires a total of three questions, in addition to race and education.
- Basic Requirements:
- 1) white, non-Hispanic
- 2) No 4-year college education
- Supplemental Requirements:
Employment Status Additional Requirement
Employed Have a non-salaried position
Unemployed/Retired Had a non-salaried position
Homemaker/Disabled None
Student Identify as working or lower class
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America
7. I. A PROFILE OF THE
WHITE WORKING CLASS
Size
Economic Circumstances
Politics
Culture
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 7
8. Size of the White Working Class
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 8
9. Household Income by Social Class
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 9
10. Financial Shape by Social Class
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 10
11. THE 2012 ELECTION
Economic Issues Influencing Vote Choice
The 2012 Vote
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 11
12. Economic Issues in 2012 Election
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 12
43
19
12
14
6
4
33
33
5
17
10
1
Lack of jobs
The budget deficit
Social Security
The gap between rich and poor
Taxes
Welfare
Note: Among those who said economy was most important issue to their vote
Source: 2012 American Values Survey, October 2012
Economic Issue Most Important to Your Vote (2012)
White Working Class White college educated
13. 2012 Vote by Class
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 13
50
33
53
48
65
46
All Americans White Working Class White college educated
Source: 2012 Post-election American Values Survey, November 2012
The 2012 Vote Preference
(Among Voters)
Barack Obama Mitt Romney
15. Traditional Gender Roles
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 15
40
49
28
57
47
67
All Americans White Working Class White college educated
Source: Race, Class and Religion Survey, 2012
Family life suffers when the woman has a full-time job
Agree Disagree
16. Target vs. Walmart
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 16
48
56
30
40
33
60
12 11 11
All Americans White Working Class White college educated
Source: Race, Class and Religion Survey, 2012
Prefer to Shop at Walmart or Target?
Walmart Target Both/Neither/DK
17. Government Assistance to Minority
Groups
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 17
40
50
32
57
46
65
All Americans White Working Class White college educated
Source: Race, Class and Religion Survey, 2012
Government has paid too much attention to the problems of
blacks and other minorities
Agree Disagree
18. II. COMPARING NEW DEFINITION TO
SIMPLE EDUCATION DEFINITION
Economic Circumstances
Marital Status
Economic Optimism
Social Issues
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 18
19. New Definition vs. Education Only
Definition
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 19
20. Financial Situation
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 20
33
52
63
66
46
35
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
White Working Class Misidentified respondents White college educated
Current Personal Financial Situation
Excellent/Good Fair/Poor
21. Self-reported Social Class
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 21
5
21 25
38
51
55
41
24
18
16
3 1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
White Working Class Misidentified respondents White college educated
Self Reported Social Class
Upper/Upper middle class Middle class Working class Lower class
22. Household Income
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 22
33
16 11
25
17
13
16
17
19
14
37 46
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
White Working Class Misidentified respondents White college educated
Household Income
Less than $30,000 $30K - $50 $50-$75K More than $75K
23. Employment Status
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 23
20
36
21
3
10
7
4
17
6
7
11 3
8
40 45
59
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
White Working Class Misidentified respondents White college educated
Employment Status
Retired Student Homemaker Unemployed/Disabled Part-time Full-time
24. Economic Optimism
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 24
47
59
63
47
38
32
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
White Working Class Misidentified respondents White college educated
Views About the American Dream
Still holds true Once held true, but not anymore
25. Economic Optimism
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 25
46
55
57
46
36
34
8 9 8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
White Working Class Misidentified respondents White college educated
America's Best Days are...
Ahead of us Behind us Depends/DK
26. Similarities on Social Issues: Abortion &
Gay Marriage
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 26
50 51
63
43 42
58
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
White Working Class Misidentified respondents White college educated
Social Issues
Abortion should be legal in all or most cases Favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry
27. Definition Requirements
Requires three questions in addition to standard education and
race/ethnicity questions.
1. Employment: Which of the following best describes your current
employment situation – employed full-time, employed part-time,
retired, a homemaker, a student, unemployed but looking for work, or
unemployed and not looking for work?
2. Job Payment Type: Which of the following best describes how you
[IF RETIRED OR UNEMPLOYED, ASK: “got”] get paid at work?
Are [“Were”] you paid an hourly rate, paid a salary or paid by the job?
3. Social Class: If you were asked to use one of these five names for
your social class, which would you say you belong in? Upper-class,
Upper-middle class, Middle class, Working class, or Lower class?
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America
28. Conclusion
A New Approach to Defining the White Working Class in America 28
Advantages:
1. Cost: PRRI’s definition requires the inclusion of only three relatively
short questions.
2. Validity: PRRI’s definition produces a group that has unique
economic experiences and a distinct cultural worldview
3. Reliability: PRRI’s definition produces extremely consistent results
both in terms of group size, demographics and attitudes.
4. Comprehensive: Despite the use only a few questions, the definition
is able to include the entire adult population. Does not exclude anyone
based on employment status.
5. Parsimonious: The definition includes as few measures as possible
while retaining significant leverage over an education only definition.
Notas del editor
Last year we set out to conduct research on the white working class. Two goals for this project:1) Attempt to provide a comprehensive look at the economic experiences, cultural outlook, and political orientations of the WWC—in an 18 minute.2) To develop a definition that is efficient and replicable; something we could then use in subsequent surveys.
There are three measures that work as proxies for social class—education, income and occupation—and they tend to overlapping but distinct people which has significant implications for our politics. The definition effects the size (political clout), and their economic and political preferences. For instance, research that uses income as a proxy for finds that white working class are more liberal and prefer Democratic candidates.In the next few slides I’m going to lay out some of the weaknesses of using any one of these approaches—both practical and theoretical(Some scholars have attempted to use a combined approach using education, income and occupation (Abramowitz and Texeira 2009), however critics note that the correlation between these measures is fairly low.)
Income has served as a common proxy for class in much of the recent literature on WWC (Bartels 2008; McCarty, Poole and Rosenthal 2008; Stonecash 2000)Regional and Temporal Bias: Many recent college graduates would fall into the working class category.Occupational Prestige: Using income as a proxy for class ignores how they earned it, their potential for growth and the social prestige derived from their positionOccupation has been shown to be a better predictor of permanent income and wealth than individual income at any one moment in time.“The part-time school teacher, the semi-skilled factory worker, the college student working part-time as a computer programmer, and the self-employed artist might all report the same income on their tax returns. But as salaried, hourly, or self-employed they have different sources of income... and ultimately very different life chances” (Manza and Brooks 1999)
Occupation generally considered the best proxy for social class and among the measures most commonly used.It determines the type of people you socialize with, strongly associated with lifetime earning potential and creates shared economic interests.However…it is very difficult information to collect, 1) Measurement becomes particularly difficult on telephone surveys—only method would be to ask an open-end question.2) No Standard Measure: The sheer number of different professions—which is constantly changing—makes binary classifications incredibly difficult and in some sense arbitrary. 3) Exclusionary: Occupation like income depends entirely on current employment status. Some groups become next to impossible to classify using occupation alone. Manza and Brooks put Retirees, students, disabled and homemakers in the same class category. This is a very large heterogeneous group.
Using education makes a lot of sense…1) It determines your credentials for employment it is closely tied to occupational prestige and job security. 2) The college experience also impacts cultural and political values, it increases tolerance for out-groups3) It is widely available measure.However…. It also shares some problems.1) Education-based definitions invariably over-estimate the size of the white working class. In our surveys they would account for close to half of the U.S. population.2)
Given the numerous problems with income and the logistical challenges of using occupation, particularly on telephone surveys, we opted to base our definition on education.But there were two issues we sought to address:1) The size of the group—we believe that an education only definition was including people it should not2) We wanted to make sure that we were sensitive of people with different employment statuses.
In this section I will compare the unique economic circumstances, and worldview of the white working class to college-educated whites.
- White working class Americans account for 36% of the population; in the two subsequent surveys we conducted the size has remained very close.34% in AVS 201234% in Immigration Survey 201311% slice would also be classified as white working class if we were to use only an education definition
The majority of white working class Americans have HH incomes of $50,000 a year or less, while a quarter earn between $50K and $100K. In contrast, less than 1-in-4 white college educated Americans have HH incomes of less than $50,000; 3-in-10 have incomes in excess of $100,000
Similar patterns emerge in subjective reports of financial well-beingRoughly 3-in-10 WWC report that their personal financial situation is poor; 4-in-10 say it is only fair; so two-thirds say they are doing only fair or poor financiallyIn contrast only about 1-in-3 white college educated Americans report being in similar financial shape; majority say they are doing good or excellent.
The voting priorities of both groups differ significantly.When asked what the most important economic issue was plurality of WWC said lack of jobs; double the number the cited the deficitWCE were as likely to cite jobs as the deficit; one-third mentioned each issueWWC were twice as likely as WCE to say that social security was the most important issue.Interestingly, WCE more likely to cite gap between rich and poor; reflects an interesting dynamic where many WWC who are financially struggling nonetheless do not view themselves as poor and in fact WWC tend to have much more negative attitudes about poor people than WCE
The 2012 election was a fairly quite close race, but WWC voted decisively for Romney.WCE voted for Obama over Romney but by a much narrower marginThere were significant regional differences in vote preferences among WWC; for instance in OH WWC split their vote between the candidates; three-quarters of WWC in the South favored Romney
- WWC more likely to embrace traditional gender roles.- Most Americans disagree that family life suffers when the woman has a full time job; WWC are narrowly divided; WCE overwhelmingly reject this notion.
Americans overall slightly prefer Walmart over target; WWC strongly prefer Walmart; while the majority of WCE prefer TargetFound similar preference differences for Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts
When it comes to race and government assistance there is also a stark class divide.WWC are evenly divided over whether the govt has paid too much attention to the problems of blacks; while two thirds of WCE reject this statement.
Our definition then seems to capture a distinct group at least compared to WCE Americans.Is it necessary; is an educational definition enough? To answer that we will look at the slice of respondents who are included in an educational-only definition but are excluded from ours.
- First, it’s important to note that we are not talking about a trivial number of people. Our definition eliminates 23% of respondents from the education-only definition, who I will refer to as misidentified respondents moving forward.
How do these groups compare financially?Two-thirds of WWC say they doing fair or poor financially, while the majority of mis identified respondents say they are doing good or excellent;They more closely resemble WCE than WWC
Looking at self reported class we see that the majority of WWC identify either as working class or lower class.Only about one-quarter of misidentified respondents identify this way; again they look much more like WCE—21% are upper or upper middle class
- The majority of WWC have HH incomes of less than $50K compared to about one-quarter of misidentified respondents and roughly equal number of WCE
- Nearly half of this misidentified groups is composed of retirees and students, two groups that are problems for using an education-pnly definition.
We also see differences in economic outlook and worldview.For instance, WWC are divided over whether the American Dream still holds true or once held true but not anymore. 6-in-10 misidentified respondents and similar numbers of WCE believe that the American Dream still holds true.
Similar pattern on measures of economic optimism.- WWC are evenly divided over whether America’s best days are ahead of us or behind us, while a majority of misidentified respondents believe that America’s best days are ahead of us, nearly identical to the number of WCE
- One place where we do not see differences between the misidentified respondents is on social issues. On both abortion and gay marriage we see the response patterns between WWC and misidentified respondents are nearly identical; both groups are much less supportive of legalized abortion and gay marriage.
Given the significant differences between the groups we believe that it is preferable to exclude these misidentified respondents from our definition. Particularly because the cost of doing so is not that high.Definition requires the inclusion of three addition questions that can easily be incorporated into a demographic battery.
- Class matters in American society both in terms of identity--how we relate to other social groups--and structuring economic interests and cultural preferences. Despite the fact that we don’t often talk about class in the U.S. research has shown that Americans are fairly class conscious and can be divided effectively according to what socio-economic strata they occupy.- The degree to which social scientists and pollsters could come to some agreement about a defensible methodological approach would help us continue to learn about this important group.