China urges its people to struggle. Some say no

Re:China urges its people to struggle. Some say no by cletus on Thursday July 08, 2021 @07:58AM (#27770794)

So I can’t find it now but a few years ago I read an article talking about this. I think from the Atlantic but I’m not 100% sure.

So the theme of the article was about the role good paying blue-collar jobs play on the social structure. When they exist, men who have them become desirable and this underpins a stability and family dynamic of sorts. When they don’t, women become more independent and the same structure of less stable.

To be clear, this isn’t an argument one way or the other, just observation. But it is interesting to see how the provider role plays out in society.

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Re:China urges its people to struggle. Some say no by loydb on Thursday July 08, 2021 @09:28AM (#27771686)

Jennifer Sherman's book _Those Who Work, Those Who Don't_, is a fascinating (and depressing) exploration of what this means, and the social changes that happen when men (mostly former loggers) can't signal their virtue via this kind of blue-collar work. Check it out.

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Re:China urges its people to struggle. Some say no by lazyeye on Thursday July 08, 2021 @01:49PM (#27775497)

"Signalling their virtue" via blue collar work sounds like a wonderful thing compared to the vacuous foghorn that is social media. I mean it actually requires effort, something more than having a "correct" set of opinions.

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