An examination of the media representation of the white working class.

1. THE WHITE WORKING CLASS
tess kohler

2. BIRD’S-EYEVIEW
JOURNALISM
POP CULTURE VS. POLITICS
DOING IT RIGHT
MOVIES
BOOKS
TV SHOWS
SOCIAL MEDIA
an agenda

3. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MEDIA
tv shows

4. REALITY TV LOVES THE WWC
why they justify it
Drastic lifestyle differences make good TV
Reasons to justify white working class reality TV:
• Not quite as deplorable as the poor—makes it feel more
comfortable, less inhumane
• Societal perception that the WWC are in their situation
because they’re just lazy — they seem less helpless
Somehow that makes it more okay to laugh at them?
That’s not quite the whole story, though.

5. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MEDIA
movies
- Better at portraying stories and emotions
- Still heavily comedic
- If not comedic, then sensationalized and glamorized

6. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MEDIA
social media
There’s a
lot of it.
It’s all
political.
And it’s
been
going on
for a while.

7. LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MEDIA
journalism—what happens when you google “wwc”
The Great God Trump and the White Working Class / If You’ve Ever Described People as ‘White Working Class,’ Read This / Why the
White Working Class Votes Against Itself / Mapping the White Working Class / The Invention of the White Working Class: The Phrase of
the Year is Racist Hogwash / Inside How Turmp Won the White Working Class / The Despair of Poor White Americans / White, Working
Class&Worried/WhatDoWhiteWorkingClassVotersBelieve?/CantheWhiteWorkingClassLead?/Election2016:TheWhiteWorking
Class is Nothing Like the Stereotypes /Trump isAlready Betraying theWhiteWorking Class /The Decline of theWhiteWorking Class and
the Rise of a Mass Upper Middle Class / Don’t Use ‘Working-Class Voters’ to Refer to White People / What’s the Matter With the ‘White
Working Class?’ / Tracking the Fortunes of America’s White Working-Class / Donald Trump Will Likely Betray His White Working-Class
Voters / WhyTrump Won: Working-Class Whites / 3 Reasons Why the White Working Class Feels Marginalized / Hidden Anxieties of the
White Working Class / Stop Obsessing Over White Working-Class Voters / We Need to Start Being PC About the White Working Class
/ What So Many People Don’t Get About the US Working Class / Why Do White Working-Class People Vote Against Their Interests?
They Don’t. / Why the White Working Class Feels Like They’ve Lost it All,According to a Political Scientist / White Working-Class Identity
Politics / America’s “White Working Class” Needs to Move (On) / Can Democrats Win Back the White Working Class? Does It Matter?
First glance: lots of the same thing, right?
[Go ahead and click to the next slide]

8. PEOPLETHATACTUALLYGOTIT
articlesthatgottotheemotions
(markedinred) The Great God Trump and the White Working Class / If You’ve Ever Described People as ‘White
Working Class,’ Read This / Why the White Working Class Votes Against Itself / Mapping the
White Working Class / The Invention of the White Working Class: The Phrase of the Year is Racist
Hogwash / Inside How Trump Won the White Working Class / The Despair of Poor White
Americans / White, Working Class & Worried / What Do White Working Class Voters Believe?
/ Can the White Working Class Lead? / Election 2016: The White Working Class is Nothing
Like the Stereotypes / Trump is Already Betraying the White Working Class / The Decline of the
White Working Class and the Rise of a Mass Upper Middle Class / Don’t Use ‘Working-Class
Voters’ to Refer to White People / What’s the Matter With the ‘White Working Class?’ / Tracking the
Fortunes of America’s White Working-Class / Donald Trump Will Likely Betray His White Working-
Class Voters / Why Trump Won: Working-Class Whites / 3 Reasons Why the White Working Class
Feels Marginalized / Hidden Anxieties of the White Working Class / Stop Obsessing Over White
Working-Class Voters / We Need to Start Being PC About the White Working Class / What So
Many People Don’t Get About the US Working Class / Why Do White Working-Class People Vote
Against Their Interests? They Don’t. / Why the White Working Class Feels Like They’ve Lost it All,
AccordingtoaPoliticalScientist/WhiteWorking-ClassIdentityPolitics/America’s“WhiteWorking
Class” Needs to Move (On) / Can Democrats Win Back the White Working Class? Does It Matter?
Here’s who’s actually showing that the WWC is more than
a dehumanized political audience.
See the clutter?

9. POP CULTURE VS POLITICS
COMEDIC IDYLLIC
DEPLORABLE DEHUMANIZED
ENTERTAINING CONDESCENDING
because there’s a difference
“Yeah they’ve got issues, but it’s
their own fault. We just need to
figure out what they care about so
we can find a way to get them on
our bandwagon.”
“Holy cow how do these
people live like this?”

10. BUT LOOK AT THE LENS
privilege.
- Media (TV and movie producers, journalists) = elite.
- Politicians/Political Parties = elite.
- Everyone has an agenda.
• Politicians: influence public opinion in their favor
• Media: produce a compelling piece that attracts attention
- The white working class is valuable to these groups because of the
effect they have on the desired agenda.
- Most people aren’t all that concerned about actually helping the
WWC, but are just trying to figure out their political ideologies as a
means to gaining support.

11. A CHAT ABOUT EDUCATION
cause and effect
- Greater societal emphasis on college, perceived prestige from a degree
- Result: WWC has sunk in perception and actual economic position
- College isn’t part of the plan of the WWC anyway, don’t think college would benefit
them much in the end
We know enough 20-something
college grads that are living in
their parent’s basements to know
that a degree doesn’t necessarily
mean that you’re guaranteed
elevated social status. And it
definitely doesn’t mean you’re a
better person than anyone else.

12. AND A NOTE ABOUT GENDER
hmm ... where are the women?
WHAT ARE THE WOMEN LIKE?
WHAT IS HARD IN THEIR LIVES?
WHAT GETS THEM UP IN THE MORNING?
The political conversation centers around working men.
And the pop culture portrayal doesn’t do women any favors.

13. ANOTHER STORY
books
Coming Apart: The State of White America (2012)
/ Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis (2015) /
White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in
America (2016) / Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family
and Culture in Crisis (2016) / The Hidden Injuries of
Class (1972) / White Working Class: Overcoming Class
Cluelessness in America (2017) / The New Minority:
White Working Class Politics in an Age of Immigration
and Inequality (2016) / Working-Class White: The
Making and Unmaking of Race Relations (2006) /Angry
White Male: How the Donald Trump Phenomenon
is Changing America—And What We Can All Do to
Save the Middle Class (2016) / The Invention of the
White Race: Racial Oppression and Social Control
(1994) / Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family
Life (2003) / Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar
Dreams (2004) /WhiteTrash: Race and Class inAmerica
(1997) / White Trash Etiquette: The Definitive Guide
to Upscale Trailer Park Manners (2006) / White Trash
Rhapsody (2014) / Strangers in their Own Land (2017)
- More in-depth, trying to get to
the core of the people
- Less focus on selling a political
movement
- Authors don’t have the pressure
to sell a sensational story to the
crazy-news-hungry public
- Books require research

14. SO WHO ELSE IS DOING IT RIGHT?
CNN’s figuring it out
“WE LOOK DIFFERENT, WE TALK DIFFERENT, AND PEOPLE SEEM TO THINK
WE DON’T EXIST. BUT IF YOU’RE HUNGRY, WE’LL SPLIT OUR LAST MEAL
WITH YOU. IF YOU’RE COLD, WILL GIVE YOU SOME KINDA TO STAY WARM.
WE GIVE EVERYTHING WE GOT. AND WE GET NOTHING BACK.”

15. SO WHO ELSE IS DOING IT RIGHT?
Matt Eich straight killed it
A photojournalist bent
on portraying real life.
No agenda other than
authenticity.

16. HOW TO BE FRESH
according to the people who get it
- Make it highly visual
- Reality, but not the sensational filter of reality TV
- Go deeper!
“BUT IF WE WANT TO UNDERSTAND WHITE WORKING-CLASS
VOTERS’ SUPPORT FOR TRUMP, WE HAVE TO UNPACK NOT ONLY
THEIR ECONOMIC ANXIETIES AND POLITICAL RESENTMENTS,
BUT ALSO THEIR CULTURAL FEARS, INCLUDING THEIR
CONCERNS ABOUT THE COSTS OF ELUSIVE UPWARD MOBILITY.”
Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, Georgetown University

17. A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE
let’s summarize
DEHUMANIZED
HOPELESS
SENSATIONALIZED
GENERALIZED
POLITICAL SEGMENT
WHITE TRASH
MEANS TO AN END

18. PLACES TO DIG DEEP
and how the media has and hasn’t gotten it
Visual media
• Film
• Photojournalism
Empathy
• Portrayals on a real human level
• We all connect on the level of pain and suffering.
• We also connect on the level of joy.
• So search for the pain and the joy! The majority of the media
doesn’t seem to care much.
Not social media — let the conversation rest for now
• Everyone is already touchy about it

19. TAKEAWAYS
i.e. a recipe for a better media environment
Hint: This is where brands can step in...
MORE
LESS
Willingness to dig deep
Authentic portrayals
Human concern
Agenda items
Assumptions
Disdain

20. THANK YOU