Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams (review)

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 440-442
Author(s):  
Richard J. (Richard Jay) Jensen
Keyword(s):  
BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. e029931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akihiko Narisada ◽  
Kohta Suzuki

ObjectiveTo investigate the associations among procrastination (time inconsistency), work environment and obesity-related factors in Japanese male workers.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingData were collected at two work sites of Japanese electronics manufacturing company in 2015.Participants795 full-time male workers in a Japanese electric company, aged 35–64 years, who underwent health checkups in 2015.Main outcome measuresBody mass index (BMI), adult weight change, obesity (BMI ≥25 kg/m2), adult weight gain over 10 kg (AWG10) and metabolic syndrome (MetS). Multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to assess the associations of procrastination assessed by using a one-item questionnaire and white-collar and blue-collar work with obesity-related factors.ResultsWhite-collar workers with high procrastination levels showed positive associations with BMI (B: 0.75, 95% CI 0.06 to 1.44) and adult weight change (B: 1.77, 95% CI 0.26 to 3.29), and had increased odds of AWG10 (OR: 1.85, 95% CI 1.04 to 3.29) and MetS (OR: 2.29 95% CI 1.18 to 4.44) after adjustment for age, education, work-related factors and lifestyle factors. However, such positive associations were not observed among blue-collar workers.ConclusionsProcrastination and white-collar work might have a joint effect on weight gain during adulthood and consequential obesity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 94
Author(s):  
Aimzhan Iztayeva

As both paid and unpaid work were disrupted during the COVID-19 crisis, the two roles that working custodial single fathers occupy—breadwinners and caregivers—have intensified significantly. Using two independent sets of interviews, this study examines how custodial single fathers navigated work and caregiving responsibilities prior to COVID-19 and compares them to the experiences of single fathers interviewed during the pandemic. The findings are organized into three key themes. First, men with white-collar jobs experienced less work-family conflict than men with blue-collar jobs. The COVID-19 crisis further widened this divide as lack of flexibility put men with blue-collar jobs in a precarious position in the labor market. Second, the way single fathers arranged childcare varied with the availability of extended family and the coparenting relationship with the child(ren)’s mother. The pandemic significantly complicated these arrangements by removing men’s access to extended family and intensifying already conflicted coparenting relationships. Finally, prior to the pandemic, many single fathers struggled with lack of leisure time and diminished social support networks that shrunk with their initial break from their child(ren)’s mother. The resulting feelings of fatigue and loneliness seeped into men’s psychological well-being. COVID-19 and related social distancing measures further exacerbated single fathers’ isolation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 310-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergey A. Maksimov ◽  
M. V. Tabakaev ◽  
A. N. Chigisova ◽  
G. V. Artamonova

Material and methods. Three groups of men working in Kemerovo region were formed: 694 “white-collar”, 1674 “blue-collar” and 1612 “coal-miners”. To form the comparison group we used data from the Russian research ESSE-RF in the Kemerovo region (700 men). The following cardiovascular risk factors were assessed: hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, hyperglycemia, obesity, hypertension, smoking, and education level. The coronary heart disease (CHD) was diagnosed on the basis of ECG changes on the Minnesota code, Rose questionnaire, and myocardial infarction. According to the frequency of risk factors and their contribution to the probability of developing the coronary heart disease, there was calculated the total burden of CHD risk factors (Maksimov S.A. et al., 2015). Results .The burden of CHD risk factors in the general population up to 51 years accounts for 308 conventional units. There is a variety of risk factors frequency in the working groups, both inside the groups and in comparison with the general population. Consequently, there are differences in values of CHD risk factors burdens. The “blue-collar” burdens of CHD risk factors corresponding to the general population (304 conventional units). In “white-collar” and “miners” this parameter is lower, respectively, 266 and 259 conventional units. After 50 years, the total burden of CHD risk factors in the population increased to 472 conventional units (1.5 times). Differences of this index in the working groups to the general population after 50 years also increased. Conclusion. The working population is characterized by the low total burden of CHD risk factors compared with the general population. After 50 years, these differences increase, which indicates the deterioration of health with age, stimulates the individual to the termination of employment or the ongoing the work as the healthiest individuals. The lowest rates of CHD risk factors burden have been reported in “miners”, the average - in “white collar”, maximum - in “blue-collar”.


ILR Review ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark R. Killingsworth ◽  
Cordelia W. Reimers

This study analyzes rank assignments and promotions among a group of federal civilian employees at a U.S. Army base, with special attention to racial differences, by estimating a multinomial logit model and using pooled data from four different years. The authors find that position and compensation, although closely related, are by no means identical, nor are promotions and changes in pay. For example, the racial differential in compensation at this base is accompanied by a racial differential in ranking under which blacks are more likely than comparable whites to be in blue-collar occupations and less likely to be in white-collar occupations; whereas the gender differential in compensation is accompanied by a gender differential in ranking under which women are more likely than comparable men to be in low-level white-collar occupations and less likely to be in other occupations. Similarly, a narrowing of the racial differential in earnings over time coexisted with a racial differential in promotions that worked to the disadvantage of nonwhites.


2001 ◽  
Vol 05 (04) ◽  
pp. 261-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
BOHUA CHEN ◽  
STEVE LAVENDER ◽  
GUNNAR B. J. ANDERSSON

This paper aims to estimate the prevalence rates of MRI change in LBP out-patients and to determine the relationship between abnormalities in an MRI and personal and occupational factors. The MRI records were obtained from 200 out-patients with LBP (114 males and 86 females) who received a diagnostic MRI at St. Luke's Medical Center. The mean and standard deviation of this sample's age were 43.8 years and 14.8 years, respectively. Based on the MRI, each lumbar disc was scored as normal or degenerated. Bulging and herniated were also recorded. Each patient completed a short questionnaire that included the measures of height, weight, age, and present occupation and any history of "heavy manual labor". Occupations were grouped into white collar sedentary, white collar professional, blue collar exposed to prolonged sitting and vibration, blue collar exposed to heavy, unemployed or retired, and homemaker. Chi-square tests were used to determine the statistical significance of these trends. A multiple logistic regression was used to develop a predictive model of spine pathology based on a subject's individual characteristics and occupational classification. Normal discs were found in 26% of the patients and degenerated discs in 47.5%. There were bulging/herniated disks in 26.5%. In men who were younger than 29 years, 50% had herniated disks, and 50% were normal. Three fourth of the women in the same age group showed normal discs. Forty-three percent of the subjects reported a history of performing heavy labor. Using the logistic regression model there were two variables predictive of observable MRI pathology: age and prior history of heavy labor. The analysis indicated that an older individual who had a history and heavy labor was more likely to show one or more pathological model discs in an MRI scan.


SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A264-A264
Author(s):  
T R Mehta ◽  
P Gurung ◽  
L Digala ◽  
Y Nene ◽  
P C Bollu

Abstract Introduction Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by recurrent occurrences of apnea and hypopnea throughout the night during sleep. Reported to prevail in 23.4% women and 49.7% men aged 40 years or older, OSA is considered to be the most preventable cause of excessive daytime sleepiness. Methods After obtaining approval from the institutional review board (IRB) for this retrospective study, a total of 825 patient records from a prospective registry of obstructive sleep apnea from our sleep lab affiliated with the University of Missouri Hospital were searched for variables including but not limited to age, race, gender, occupation, medications any sleep-related comorbidities, psychiatric comorbidities, cardiovascular comorbidities, pre CPAP ESS score and post CPAP ESS score. The mean improvement score of ESS in both these populations was compared and possible causes for the difference in these groups were analyzed. Results Initial analysis from 22 patients belonging to the white-collar and 22 patients belonging to the blue-collar workforce with a mean age of 49.27 (±14.28) years and a mean BMI of 37.60 (±9.41) showed a mean improvement of -1.27 and 0.63 respectively with no significance statistically. Statistical analysis will be performed after gathering data from a larger sample size. Conclusion Although insignificant, the blue-collar workforce showed more improvement than the white-collar workforce in the initial analysis. Support No support, financial or otherwise was used for this study.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-92
Author(s):  
Adam Berg ◽  
Andrew D. Linden ◽  
Jaime Schultz

Debuting in 2013, Esquire Network’s first season of White Collar Brawlers features professional-class men with workplace conflicts looking to “settle the score in the ring.” In the show, white-collar men are portrayed as using boxing to reclaim ostensibly primal aspects of masculinity, which their professional lives do not provide, making them appear as better men and more productive constituents of a postindustrial service economy. Through this narrative process, White Collar Brawlers romanticizes a unique fusion of postindustrial white-collar employment and the blue-collar labors of the boxing gym. This construction, which Esquire calls “modern manhood,” simultaneously empowers professional-class men while limiting the social mobility of actual blue-collar workers. Based on a critical textual analysis that adopts provisional and rudimentary aspects of Wacquant’s conception of “pugilistic capital,” we contend that Esquire Network has created a show where men are exposed to and sold an image of “modern manhood” that reifies class-based differences and reaffirms the masculine hegemony of white-collar identities.


ILR Review ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Freeman

This study examines the effect of trade unionism on the dispersion of wages among male wage and salary workers in the private sector in the United States. It finds that the application of union wage policies designed to standardize rates within and across establishments significantly reduces wage dispersion among workers covered by union contracts and that unions further reduce wage dispersion by narrowing the white-collar/blue-collar differential within establishments. These effects dominate the more widely studied impact of unionism on the dispersion of average wages across industries, so that on net unionism appears to reduce rather than increase wage dispersion or inequality in the United States.


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