The placement of the middle class above the working class in conceptions of the social class hierarchy does not reflect a working class viewpoint. Interviews with blue-collar men working in construction or in factories revealed a consensus that blue-collar work is preferred over white-collar work for a number of reasons. These men all agreed that accepting white-collar jobs would mean giving up meaningful, intrinsically rewarding work that is a source of pride. Informants recognize that the general standing that their job has, using the words of the NORC survey upon which occupational prestige rankings are based, is low relative to white-collar work, but they disagree with that determination. Middle class disdain for blue-collar work, they argue, is based in ignorance. The design of this research allowed for the inclusion of a variety of job categories across two vastly different occupations, it allowed workmen to describe their occupational experience in their own words to an interviewer that shared their class identity, and it did not assume blue-collar work to be positive or negative. These qualities are reflected in conclusions that are not consistent with dominant conceptions of the social order. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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