Working with Class: Social Workers and the Politics of Middle-Class Identity

by Daniel J. Walkowitz

Polls tell us that most Americans--whether they earn $20,000 or $200,000 a year--think of themselves as middle class. As this phenomenon suggests, "middle class" is a category whose definition is not necessarily self-evident. In this book, historian Daniel Walkowitz approaches the question of what it means to be middle class from an innovative angle. Focusing on the history of social workers--who daily patrol the boundaries of class--he examines the changed and contested meaning of the term over the last one hundred years.

Walkowitz uses the study of social workers to explore the interplay of race, ethnicity, and gender with class. He examines the trade union movement within the mostly female field of social work and looks at how a paradigmatic conflict between blacks and Jews in New York City during the 1960s shaped late-twentieth-century social policy concerning work, opportunity, and entitlements. In all, this is a story about the ways race and gender divisions in American society have underlain the confusion about the identity and role of the middle class.

Genres: History

440 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

An examination of/argument for the liminal nature of the middle class in the 20th century US, using social workers as a particular case study involved in patrolling the borders between the lower classes (welfare recipients/workers/immigrants/etc) and the upper (wealthy volunteers)-the latter of which falls off as the century progresses and is largely replaced by the state and professionalization projects.

Not being particularly interested in social work per se, I enjoyed his introduction and conclusion the most, concerned as they were with the larger issue of class and identity formation in social and cultural history.

This is also a superbly constructed and clearly presented argument-hats off to Walkowitz for that.

[Lolotehe · Rating 3 out of 5]

An astonishingly dry read, but some very good information.