Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants
Title
Corporations Good, Government Bad: The New Heroes of the Working Class
Department
Sociology
College
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Date Range
2010-2011
Abstract
Based on various recent studies, the paper argues that the contemporary wage earning working class and lower middle class holds increasingly unfavorable views of corporations, as well as towards the federal government, especially among white males. This corresponds to rising authoritarianism, which itself results from declining economic opportunity and loss of status. Consequently, white males are searching for a leader to set things right and herald renewed white working man privilege. However, the simultaneous rejection of the established institutions of power suggests a generalized nihilism rather than any particular political commitment. Should frustration escalate and economic conditions deteriorate further, the paper predicts a generalized and randomized authoritarian destructiveness, rather than a coherent political movement.
Conference Name
Annual Meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society
Conference Location
St. Louis, MO
ScholarWorks Citation
Lundskow, George, "Corporations Good, Government Bad: The New Heroes of the Working Class" (2010). Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants. 140.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/fsdg/140
