Professional and Working Class Conflict in The United States

Professional And Working Class Conflict In The United States

In the United States there has long been a conflict between the working class majority and the professional class. The conflict goes back to the workers revolution and age of unionized labor in the late nineteenth century. Since the 1870s and the rise of professionalism the daily routine of American workers has been largely designed by professionals instead of foremen.

Today, most American workers many of whom earn middle-range incomes and work in white collar occupations, are usually not resentful of the professionals though a feeling of disconnect persists. Even nowadays there is a large visible discrepancy between professionals whose main job duties include visualizing and directing the day of other workers and those who carry out the orders. While the work of professionals and managers is usually largely self-directed and appeals to the interest of the individual, that of middle-range income white collar and working class blue collar workers is closely supervised and tends to greatly stray from the worker's actual interests.

Yet another reason for professional middle class resentment among the working class stems from the embedded feelings of anti-intellectualism. When combined working class workers seem to often be under the impression that their better paid, professional managers are not actually "doing anything" as most of their duties are to conceptualize and outline their ideas.