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Dave Portnoy, the founder of the sports blog Barstool, made national headlines this week from his response to rumors of his staff forming a union, like other media workers have in the recent past. It’s no secret that union membership has reached a historical low in this country, but the cause of the decline is equally unsurprising; it can be summed up from a tweet from Portnoy to his workers: “Unions are for pu%*#s. At least in our world.” As Eddie Kim argues, weaponizing masculinity to block fights for workers’ rights is a long American tradition.  

Of course, bosses using attacks on the worn-out stereotypes of toxic masculinity only works in industries where these ideals are treasured. These strategies prove most effective where people don’t have much more to their identities than their masculinity or their whiteness; for many white working–class men, that’s all they have to show for. Unless things change for these groups of men, they will work themselves and their families to death.  

This is at least part of the story of Jonathan Metzls’s new book, Dying of Whiteness, where he shows empirically how white working–class men are dying at rates much higher than their demographic has ever experienced in this country. In addition to economic changes that have affected the white working class, it is their clinging to identities of “tough,” independent workers that contributes to their refusal to support policies that would help them materially. Instead they are opting to support anyone who will tell them that they’re still strong and that their problems are someone else’s fault—even as they take their dying breaths. In fact, Metzl interviews white men who say they would rather die (literally) than support policies from working class people of color. Now that’s identity politics. 

In addition to economic changes that have affected the white working class, it is their clinging to identities of “tough,” independent workers that contributes to their refusal to support policies that would help them materially. Share on X

This commitment to whiteness and masculinity doesn’t just shape white men’s politics, but their personal relationships as well. Sociologists have shown that straight white men have fewer close friendships compared to any other male racial/ethnic group. It doesn’t take a giant leap of logic to assume this might have something to do with their higher rates of suicide and self-destructive use of drugs like meth. It is the combination of whiteness—as superiority—and working class—as resilience—that creates this perfect storm. In fact, the combination of these two identities is what W. E. B. DuBois called the “great loophole” stopping poor whites from joining poor blacks in solidarity over a 100 years ago. The great trade-off between loving and fighting for yourself and others, for the sense that you are strong and resilient in the face of challenges is “coming home to roost” for white men—and they’re taking it out on everyone else. 

The great trade-off between loving and fighting for yourself and others, for the sense that you are strong and resilient in the face of challenges is “coming home to roost” for white men—and they’re taking it out on everyone else. Share on X

I know how real the appeal of these false promises can be from own life experience. From as long as I can remember, I was taught that the most important thing about work is working harder than the next guy (and real work was always “guy work”). Growing up in the rural South, it was always a badge of honor to brag about how many hours you’d worked in a week. I still feel the push and pull of these embedded values today. It wasn’t until I entered more liberal spaces that I saw that this appeal to amount of hours worked had a class “layer” to it. I never heard anyone I grew up with strategizing, like entrepreneur Tim Ferris, about how to only work 4-hours a week, or like the FIRE (Financial Independence and early Retirement) community’s efforts to get out of working as quickly and early as possible.  

At the root of many anti-work movements is a correct assessment of America’s unhealthy relationship to work, but we should all be suspicious when bosses want their workers to love work more than they love themselves. Until the white working-class learns to value themselves for identities other than their whiteness or masculinity, they will continue to work themselves to death—and the rest of us will suffer the residual consequences. 

Until the white working-class learns to value themselves for identities other than their whiteness or masculinity, they will continue to work themselves to death—and the rest of us will suffer the residual consequences. Share on X

 

Editor’s note: The Winters Group created a reflection guide on this Inclusion Solution series. The purpose of this guide is to revisit the perspectives shared and to encourage greater self-reflection and critical thinking about the ways this topic influences your world. Also included in this guide are activities and reflection questions for you to engage in as you begin your journey. Download the guide here.