Archive: John Russo
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WCP: Uber, “Metropocalypse,” and Economic Inequality in DC
Researchers have already revealed the poor working conditions, high risks, and financial instability that Uber drivers face. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, Katie Wells, Kafui Attoh, and Declan Cullen show how Uber’s cozy relationship with D.C. policymakers allowed it to pass special rules in its favor. As a result, Washingtonians will likely experience heightened inequality, more discrimination, and worse public transportation.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Worker Portraits: Contradictions and Contingencies
Art depicting workers offers contradicting meanings of work in both capturing the dignity and pride of workers but also representing the struggles and hardships of labor. In Working-Class Perspectives, Sherry Linkon reflects on how these tensions manifest in a new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery and argues that the exhibit neglects the precarious nature of work today.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Everybody Knows About Alabama
The 1963 KKK bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham resulting in the death of four adolescent girls inspired Nina Simone to write protest songs. Decades later, Doug Jones made the successful prosecution of two of the bombers part of his Alabama U.S. Senate campaign against Roy Moore. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, Sherry Linkon and John Russo discuss how history, politics, and culture are woven together in Christina Ham’s play with music, Nina Simone: Four Women.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Making America White Again: Trump’s Pardon of Joe Arpaio
The aggressive tactics that Joe Arpaio used against immigrant workers as Maricopa County Sheriff were not only racist, they also reflect class bias. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, Mary Romero explains how Trump’s pardon of Arpaio normalizes xenophobia in law enforcement and leaves undocumented workers vulnerable to abuse.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: #SaveTPS: A Working-Class Struggle
Congress must act by the end of this week to save DACA, but they also face a deadline on another program that has helped immigrants from countries struggling with war, disasters, and environmental emergencies – Temporary Protected Status (TPS). In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, KI’s Jessica F. Chilin-Hernández explains why TPS matters for workers and for her own family.
Categories: Our Staff, Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Working-Class Women Unionists on the Front Lines
Working-class women are becoming the face of the labor movement in Australia and inspiring unions to fight for feminist issues. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, Sarah Attfield profiles three women unionists at the helm of the worker struggle in Australia.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: #MeToo Solidarity
Although news coverage of sexual assault has focused on celebrity perpetrators, sexual harassment is a workplace issue that unites women across ages, classes, and industries. In this week's Working-
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Social Class and Trump Voters
More than a year after the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, journalists are still making sense of the role of social class in the outcome. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, Jack Metzgar focuses on a recent Politico article that made waves to show how reporters often misdefine “the white working class,” leading many progressives to learn the wrong lessons from Trump’s election.
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: Food Insecurity and the Costs of College
Higher education has become so inaccessible to working-class students that there are over 500 campus food pantries in the United States. In this week's Working-Class Perspective, Allison L. Hurst de
Category: Visiting Scholars
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WCP: The Precariat: Why a Basic Income is Vital
As work becomes increasingly unstable and insecure, economic inequality balloons. In this week’s Working-Class Perspective, Guy Standing makes the case for a universal basic income with supplements for disadvantaged groups as the only sustainable solution.
Category: Visiting Scholars