| This dissertation compares working class fortunes in the U.S., UK, France, and Germany. I examine which national working class has achieved most in terms of absolute and relative living standards. The working class is defined as the bottom 40% of a nation's population. Indicators of absolute living standards used are purchasing power, total wage compensation, ownership of material goods, life expectancy, and infant mortality. Indicators of relative living standards are percentile income distribution, poverty rates, unemployment rates, educational enrolment, and state social expenditures.; Regarding absolute living standards, the United States' working class is ahead of Europe in material ownership. However, Europeans have greater levels of social benefits, insurance, and labor protections relative to American workers. Regarding relative living standards or equality levels, Europeans have a solid lead over Americans except in the area of educational opportunities. The poorest segment of the working class (bottom 10% and 20% of population) is better off in Europe by all measures including material levels.; The second section examines the relative importance of union density, collective bargaining patterns, strike activity, and the relative power of left vs. right political parties as explanatory variables for greater working class attainments. Using data ranging from the 1940s to the present, for 21 OECD countries, I find these measures all correlate significantly in the expected direction with indicators of equality. Economic forces are more strongly associated with absolute measures of wellbeing. However, all of the independent variables of working class action also influence some of the absolute indicators.; The final sections give a review of labor and political history in these countries. My historical analysis is embedded within the framework of Social Structures of Accumulation (SSA) theory. I document that the labor movement has been more successful in periods when it applied high levels of class conflict expressed through strike activity and especially when confrontation reached revolutionary proportions. I also suggest that a new 21st century long wave of prosperity is emerging with a weakened global working class which is unlikely to reap as many benefits as it did earlier during the 20 th century expansion. |
