Changing to a blue collar job from a lifetime of white collar work has shown me something very significant about the UK:
The class divide between blue collar workers (working class) and white collar workers (middle class) essentially comes down to a lack of growth mindset.
I am finding it strange being around so many people that think they’re given a lot in their life and that’s what it is.
White collar workers are very entitled, which in this context is largely a good thing. They understand their value and they will push back hard if it’s not appreciated (which they have to do often because their value is largely all make-believe and not tangibly evident). White collar workers believe that they will ultimately be a senior manager or will have equivocal respect of one in the next 5 years of their career. White collar workers believe in enough salary to justify extravagant luxuries. White collar workers see their value and don’t fear losing their jobs, with the growth mindset the next one will always be better.
Blue collar workers are extremely humble and physically hard-working. They cannot, and will not, bear slackers. They tend to think the people in charge are in charge and what they say goes – pushback is rare (meaning systems around them are archaic, bottlenecks and bureaucracy are rife and problems are abound). Blue collar workers earn ~50% less than white collar workers for equivalent experience. Blue collar workers have less management hierarchy, meaning less potential for career progression and therefore less growth mindset with regards to “levelling up”. Unlike white collar workers, who are accustomed to the idea of sales and marketing meaning an alternative and higher-earning option for all, blue collar workers tend to see business ownership as a rare possibility (other than hairdressing, seemingly).
This might read like something from a 90s American Hood movie, but I believe that more blue collar workers believing they’re gona get themselves up out the hood, demonstrate their value and tell the snooty wealthy contractees that they’re going to pay more for quality or they’re going to end up with very ugly surroundings.
On that note, I am beginning to wonder what the origins of aesthetic gardening are. Was it aristocrats collecting the new species from overseas colonial expeditions then enjoying the position of power of having servants around them bending nature to their whims? Or is it something older? I’ve got some history lessons to do. Not that I’ll be put off – the benefits of gardening for oneself are self evident, and the vast learning and collecting potential is ever-exciting.
As a socialist, of course I want to see the wealthy taxed more to ensure blue collar workers are paid the same as those who sit on their arse playing business games all day. But I’m interested in the way culture might be forcing this to happen even without the politics. My eye is quite fixed on the way the next technological revolution is going to change the position of blue collar workers. Will people value physical workers more again as there are more climatical demands for people to work in the world again? Will white collar workers be pushed into labour-intensive jobs as more white collar skills are automated?
It’s an interesting time for the shifting of classes.