This article looks at the conception of 'green-collar' worker and attempts to address the question of what this means
In the recent Democratic Primaries, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards have promoted a new kind of worker: one of the “Green-Collar” variety (Pappu, 2008). This tenuous, but seemingly obvious conception has its roots in a long tradition of “blue” and “white” collar stereotypes. Does this Green-Collar worker exist? Or, is this term merely politically motivated? How does this notion of “Green-Collar” fit with the ongoing capitalist structure in America, the structure that reinforces competition and profit?
Pollution and the Wealthy
The wealthy nations pollute the most and environmentalists tend to thrive in wealthy nations, how can there truly be a “green worker in the U.S.?” Poor countries cannot logically have these sorts of laborers. This equates to “Green” workers living and working among about 400 million people versus the 6.3 billion that live on earth. If this sort of worker does exist, does he/she have the power to change policy?
Environmentalists of old tended to be left-wingers who for the most part leaned toward anti-establishment and revolution. Today, environmentalists who live in wealthy nations are of all creeds and colors; soccer moms, college students, white and blue collar laborers. It appears that Senators’ Clinton and Edwards are merely casting a wide net for voters, hoping to create a new question for policy – a policy they can direct in the interests of their constituents. They are attempting to couch the environmental aura into a status-quo policy – one that supports business and capitalist interests in general.
A Very Brief History of Power and Work
The philosophical ideology of being a worker in America is grounded in the relationship between those producing work (usually over-worked) and those managing the worker. Many social theorists have documented this relationship (Braverman, 1998; Domhoff, 1998; Eastman, 1932; Kanter, 1993; Williams, 1995). Others have conceptualized the relationship between religious ideology and the structure of our economy (Weber, 1958). However, few have looked at trends on what it is to be a “Green-Collar” worker.
'Green-Collar' Workers and Capitalist Production
Most Americans realize that they work to live – but only few understand that some in our country do not have to work, they live through the labor of others. Marx (Eastman, 1932) and others conceptualized this notion more than a century ago, so what is so new about the “Green-Collar” worker – nothing. It is merely politics delivered to a voter audience nourished on sound-bites and ethnocentrism. The truly education-deprived American seldom looks beyond his/her borders to understand the capitalist-structural barriers. For instance, what oil company can afford to curtail oil production and replace it with alternative types of energy when our Bourgeousie have invested so much in the infrastructure of non-renewable energy (e.g., gas stations, highways, factories, etc.)? The answer lies in lifestyle change and America is not ready for this sound bite.
Solutions for the Worker
Give up! No, you need to relax, understand that power has an essential need that being, cooperators. If you choose to work, which most of us must do, the relationships you create become important predictors of your self satisfaction and general happiness outcomes. The movement to “Green” is a conceptual mask over the reality of capitalist control. But, the solution lies in whether or not you choose to act from within your work setting i.e. creating constructive relationships to give yourself more power, or move on and change from the outside. Wealthy countries have chosen a particular set of lifestyle beliefs. It is not “Green” that is the issue. Instead, it lifestyle choices and the power relationship between owners and workers is.
References
Braverman, H. (1998). Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century (2nd ed.). New York: Monthly Review Press.
Domhoff, William G. (1998). Who Rules America? Power and Politics in the Year 2000 (3rd ed.). Mountain View, California: Mayfield Publishing Company.
Eastman, M. (1932). Capital: The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings by Karl Marx. New York: The Modern Library, Inc.
Kanter, R. M. (1993). Men and Women of the Corporation. (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books.
Pappu, 2008. Politicians Power Up with ‘Green-Collar’ Workers Wednesday, January 23, 2008. Washington Post. Retrieved on February 23, 2008 from
Weber, M. (1958). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.
Williams, Christine L. (1995). Still A Man’s World: Menu Who Do Women’s Work. Berkeley: University of California Press.
