to talk respectfully with the white working class will help Democrats reach Latino voters,
too.
Ending class cluelessness also would help Democrats better connect with working-class
black people. Working-class black people share with professional-class liberals the view
that social disadvantage is deeply structural, but in most ways they are more similar to
working-class whites. When sociologist Michèle Lamont made a table comparing black
and white working-class men, most values overlapped: Hardworking, Responsible,
Providing, Protecting, Personal Integrity, Straightforwardness/Sincerity, and Traditional
Morality (see Table 1).
The guiding principles of the progressive coalition reflect what the PME wants, not what
the broad range of African-Americans want. Wrote a friend, “The truth is most blacks are
pretty conservative socially—something that is seldom discussed. But I think our history
is such that while we may not support abortion, LGBT and other social issues, we believe
that liberals will hurt us less than other groups. Sad but true.”
Ending class cluelessness will also help a small but important group of people of color:
class migrants. While on a book tour in 2010, I discussed how education can drive a
painful wedge between upwardly mobile class migrants and their families. The students
who came up to me after my talks at universities, some in tears, were chiefly students of
color. “No one’s ever recognized this about me,” was the general sentiment. Of course , if
you think about it, many students of color at elite schools are undergoing the angst-filled
process of choosing between the traditions of their families and those of the professional
elite. Ending class cluelessness will make it easier for class migrants of all races to get
their share of the American dream.
Many challenges lie ahead, including tensions between the goals and values of the white
working class and the existing progressive coalition. Let’s begin with an important
principle: a coalition is not a mind meld. We can work together without agreeing on every
single thing.
During one of George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, I went to help get out the vote
for the Democratic candidate in Ohio, where substantial tensions existed between
African-Americans and the LGBTQ community. Many black churches were urging
voters to vote against ordinances prohibiting discrimination against gays. Democrats, of
course, did not throw black voters out of their coalition because many are social
conservatives. The party supported both gay rights and African-American rights. In Ohio,
we did not back down from gay rights. But neither did we rub gay rights in African-
- Can Liberals Embrace the White Working Class without Abandoning Important Values and Allies?
