Zweig Working Class Essay

Four key characteristics that encompass the working class is first, the working class has little to no power within the workplace. As Zweig emphasizes many times, class is divided primarily by the difference between the powerful and the powerless, this means that a two people with the same job title could be in different classes even though they have the same job. The example that Zweig uses is there are two truck drivers, Driver 1 works for a freight company while Driver 2 owns his own rig. The truck driver who owns his own rig has more power in his position than the truck driver who works for the freight company, thus putting Driver 2 in the middle class while Driver 1 is in the working class. (Zweig,29). The second characteristic is that women and African American …show more content…
As of 2010, 10.8% of the employed labor force were African Americans, and in that 12.7% were employed in the working class and only 7.6% in the middle class. Hispanics made up 14.3% of the total labor force, 17.8% of them were in the working class and only 8.6 were in the middle class. (Zweig, 32-33). These statistics show that there is a greater percentage of women, African Americans and Hispanics in the working class than in the middle class. Thirdly, there is little to no time for leisure activities, most working class families have to work so often to pay the bills that there is no time left over for them to relax or spend time with their families. This is represented by Rubin when she says, “…There’s less time for leisure pursuits and social activities than ever before, not just because both parents work full-time but also because people work longer hours now than they did twenty years ago.” (Rubin, 97). Rubin also says “…most-off work hours are spent trying to catch up with the dozens of family and household tasks that were left undone during the regular work week.” (Rubin,

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