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> For generations, factories provided good jobs to people who never went to college, allowing families [...] to be upwardly mobile [...] unions at their prime h

by zeteo 11y ago

> For generations, factories provided good jobs to people who never went to college, allowing families [...] to be upwardly mobile [...] unions at their prime helped create a “moral economy” in which wages rose both in firms with unions and those without them, and in which the average worker had a notable voice [...] lobbying on their behalf in Washington This might be overstating the case somewhat. The very term "mass production" wasn't introduced until 1926 [1]. Some of the biggest unions were only formed in the 1930s [2] and their activity was largely suppressed during WWII. The golden age of union manufacturing jobs lasted 30 years at best (late 40s to late 70s' oil shocks). The 50 year old whites are thus at the same time beneficiaries and victims of the success created by the "greatest generation". Their parents went through the Great Depression, fought WWII, and worked out a great compromise that shared the bounty of mass production equitably between unions and factory owners. The subsequent generation encountered far fewer hardships and inevitably took for granted a status quo that had, in fact, been difficult to achieve (and long in the making). It's hardly surprising that, in their middle to old age, many have trouble adapting to the computerization of the work place (a transformation at least as momentous as mass production). In addition, winning the Cold War has proved a very mixed blessing by bringing direct competition with billions who went through their own version of great depression (and possibly warfare) within living memory. Interestingly enough, computerization (with the official end of Moore's law) and globalization (with China's pathologically slowing growth) are now leveling off. Will this allow a reprieve for downtrodden baby boomers? The upcoming years should make for very interesting politics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_production [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Automobile_Workers#1930s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Automobile_Workers#1930...

blisterpeanuts 11y ago
+1 for pointing out that the post-War economy was a one-time boom created by the unique situation in 1945. For the white middle class, life in 1950 was pretty good (unless you were sent to Korea). Life in 1960 was fabulous. At that time, a man could work as a clerk in a hardware store or an assistant in a butcher shop and support a stay-at-home wife and four children in his own middle class home with one car, one television, one phone, etc. It was the American dream, based partially on generous union contracts for some, and general prosperity for others. Writers were in great demand; musicians could play 365 nights a year. Housing was cheap, jobs were plentiful, and salaries and wages rose every year. Life in 1970 was different; the Japanese had beaten the Americans at steel, the Vietnam wartime economy was winding down even as Americans perceived we had lost the war, 50,000+ young Americans killed and hundreds of thousands of others traumatized and damaged. The Sixties had taken a massive toll on church, marriage, and society's general cohesiveness and morale, and suddenly things seemed awfully uncertain. Around that time, Europe and Japan had rebuilt and were starting to compete vigorously, taking away the easy monopoly that American companies enjoyed for the previous 30 years. It's no surprise that this same socioeconomic group is going through tough times today. The technology economy has no room for people with a high school diploma and good manual labor skills. Some car mechanics in the old days were barely literate, but fixing cars today requires knowledge of digital circuitry and software. There are some silver linings, though. Shale energy has created a boom for drivers, roughnecks, welders, waitresses, etc. in places like North Dakota. Now that oil is legal to export, and assuming oil goes north of $40/BBL again, the U.S. will probably emerge in another decade or two as the world's largest energy exporter. Cheap domestic natural gas from shale formations has been a boon to the chemical and plastics industries. New technologies such as 3-D printing, as well as rising wages in the 3rd world, notably in China, are bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. We probably won't see a golden age such as we experienced from 1945-1970, and unions have lost much of their clout since that time, but perhaps there will be more opportunities in coming years for blue collar and middle class workers than since the 1980s. Someone in this thread points out that technology workers may some day find themselves on the other side of the prosperity wall, as well. Nothing lasts forever.

by zeteo 11y ago

blisterpeanuts 11y ago

+1 for pointing out that the post-War economy was a one-time boom created by the unique situation in 1945. For the white middle class, life in 1950 was pretty good (unless you were sent to Korea). Life in 1960 was fabulous. At that time, a man could work as a clerk in a hardware store or an assistant in a butcher shop and support a stay-at-home wife and four children in his own middle class home with one car, one television, one phone, etc. It was the American dream, based partially on generous union contracts for some, and general prosperity for others. Writers were in great demand; musicians could play 365 nights a year. Housing was cheap, jobs were plentiful, and salaries and wages rose every year. Life in 1970 was different; the Japanese had beaten the Americans at steel, the Vietnam wartime economy was winding down even as Americans perceived we had lost the war, 50,000+ young Americans killed and hundreds of thousands of others traumatized and damaged. The Sixties had taken a massive toll on church, marriage, and society's general cohesiveness and morale, and suddenly things seemed awfully uncertain. Around that time, Europe and Japan had rebuilt and were starting to compete vigorously, taking away the easy monopoly that American companies enjoyed for the previous 30 years. It's no surprise that this same socioeconomic group is going through tough times today. The technology economy has no room for people with a high school diploma and good manual labor skills. Some car mechanics in the old days were barely literate, but fixing cars today requires knowledge of digital circuitry and software. There are some silver linings, though. Shale energy has created a boom for drivers, roughnecks, welders, waitresses, etc. in places like North Dakota. Now that oil is legal to export, and assuming oil goes north of $40/BBL again, the U.S. will probably emerge in another decade or two as the world's largest energy exporter. Cheap domestic natural gas from shale formations has been a boon to the chemical and plastics industries. New technologies such as 3-D printing, as well as rising wages in the 3rd world, notably in China, are bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. We probably won't see a golden age such as we experienced from 1945-1970, and unions have lost much of their clout since that time, but perhaps there will be more opportunities in coming years for blue collar and middle class workers than since the 1980s. Someone in this thread points out that technology workers may some day find themselves on the other side of the prosperity wall, as well. Nothing lasts forever.