Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win them Back

Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win them Back, by Joan C. Williams (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2025)

Joan C. Williams, a scholar of working-class dynamics and social inequality, and a professor of law at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, scrupulously examines the bases of left- and right-wing politics and support. She explores the differences in both groups, finding that a “diploma divide” between the two groups drives their political dynamics. She notes that her key message is the necessity to “fix the broken relationship between noncollege voters and the Brahmin Left.”

Her conclusion is that the left and the Democrats must change the class dynamics driving American politics to persuade right-leaning voters to support Democratic candidates.

The author describes how the “elite” diploma-bearing, primarily Democratic class tends to look down upon those in the working class without diplomas, who she calls “middle-status” voters. She discusses the historic loss of the middle class by the Democratic party – citing evidence that labor unions, which traditionally supported Democratic candidates, lost touch with their members who have turned to religious groups and social clubs for their bonding. 

Prof. Williams emphasizes the stark divide between the “Brahmin Left” and the right-drifting lower income working class, citing a cultural divide between the two groups. She notes that while salaries have risen dramatically for people with college degrees, wages for non-degreed workers have not increased. 

 She offers Democratic Senator John Fetterman as an example of a plain-speaking politician who, when describing his party’s platform to middle-status voters, uses his working-class appearance and lingo they identify with. 

The thesis of the book is that, to win back those Democrats who have been lost to the party the liberal elite class must recognize that their lives are viewed as distinct from those who they hope to persuade to vote Democratic. 

People on the right have a different view of masculinity, expressed in their refusal to wear masks during the pandemic and their embrace of the “Stop the Steal” movement as an expression of their belief that the left had stolen something from them. 

Americans in the middle have seen their economic future fading and at the same time believe that the elite left looks down on them. They believe that Democrats are focused on the defense of democracy, abortion rights, climate change, trans people and immigration, and are not attentive to economic issues and inflation which are of greatest importance to their working-class lives.

Prof. Williams utilizes extensive research and studies into voting patterns in the recent and past elections to discern patterns of voting among young people, people of color and among different economic groups. Each chapter contains useful “key takeaways” reviewing the salient points discussed. 

Reviewed by Steven Davis, a member of the Executive Board of the New York Labor History Association and a retired Administrative Law Judge with the National Labor Relations Board.

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Editor’s Note:

The author of “Outclassed” declares that “[t]he path forward is to build a multiracial coalition that delivers fair outcomes for everyone,” so as to “move beyond the shame of a very rich country with very poor outcomes.”  She is not alone. The writer Michael Lind advocates “race-neutral economic reforms,” recalling the 1960’s “Freedom Budget” devised by the A. Philip Randolph Institute, and the advocacy by Dr. King, A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin for race-neutral approaches to poverty.  King, Randolph and Rustin were democratic socialists; Randolph and Rustin forged an alliance between the civil rights movement and the labor movement. They recognized that minorities and working people of all colors share the same goals: political and social freedom and economic justice.  “As long as inequality is treated as the product of racism, instead of economics, it will seriously divert the attention of society from difficult issues which ultimately must be faced.” (B. Rustin and N. Hill, 1974) (underscoring added)

The Mayor-Elect of New York City, Zorhan Mamdani, is a self-proclaimed “democratic socialist.” Will his “affordability” agenda foster (to the extent possible at the municipal level) class-based universalist programs or will they be shaped by “identity politics” and “racialism?”  Time will tell.

-Keith Danish