I’m fascinated by the topic of men and the new economy. I do think that the problems are catching up to women, too, but let’s leave that alone for a moment. David Brooks has a column yesterday about how traditional male virtues are screwing them over, as the economy changes. He points out that 1/5 of men in the prime age are unemployed. Brooks says that men themselves have to take some of the blame.
But, surely, there has been some ineffable shift in the definition of dignity. Many men were raised with a certain image of male dignity, which emphasized autonomy, reticence, ruggedness, invulnerability and the competitive virtues. Now, thanks to a communications economy, they find themselves in a world that values expressiveness, interpersonal ease, vulnerability and the cooperative virtues.
Surely, part of the situation is that many men simply do not want to put themselves in positions they find humiliating. A high school student doesn’t want to persist in a school where he feels looked down on. A guy in his 50s doesn’t want to find work in a place where he’ll be told what to do by savvy young things.
Do you buy it?
Apt. 11d 
A guy in his 50s doesn’t want to find work in a place where he’ll be told what to do by savvy young things.
That was a sitcom staple back when sitcoms were in black and white. I don’t think that would be a problem if it wasn’t for the large drop in real wages.
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Well, one thing that strikes me is that Brooks is talking about white men.
From A Raisin in the Sun:
“WALTER A job. (Looks at her) Mama, a job? I open
and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around
in his limousine and I say, “Yes, sir; no, sir; very
good, sir; shall I take the Drive, sir?” Mama, that ain’t
no kind of job . . . that ain’t nothing at all. (Very
quietly) Mama, I don’t know if I can make you under-
stand.”
From Sula:
“Jude himself longed more than anybody else to be taken. Not just for the good money, more for the work itself. He wanted to swing the pick or kneel down with the string or shovel the gravel. His arms ached for something heavier than trays, for something dirtier than peelings; his feet wanted the heavy work shoes, not the thin-soled black shoes that the hotel required. More than anything he wanted the camaraderie of the road men: the lunch buckets, the hollering, the body movement that in the end produced something real, something he could point to.”
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Outsourcing the answer to Eric Loomis: “This is, frankly, stupid. The reason why male employment hasn’t recovered is because the jobs men used to have no longer exist. That the 20th century economy was inherently sexist cannot be questioned. Men had industrial jobs that became high paying after decades of union organization. The middle-class of salesmen, middle managers, etc., was also dominated by men. Women were in service positions. Now you tell me, which jobs still exist in the United States in 2013? The industrial jobs on the shopfloor? Uh, no. Even college educated men are told that they will change jobs multiple times in their lives. The basis of a secure economy that came from knowledge that your job would last a lifetime is long gone. Even lawyers have no work. What remains is a service economy, with jobs long defined as female. Housekeeping, nursing, child care, entry level office work, Wal-Mart–these are jobs that are available. This is not so different than the Great Depression, when men found themselves out of work and women often did not. ”
For my part, I am trying to remember when (or indeed if) I wasn’t stupider after reading a David Brooks column than before.
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I’m not clear on what a Hollywood movie was supposed to prove about men. It would have been better to use such an example in an article on Hollywood’s changing portrayal of men. Hollywood isn’t known for accuracy, is it?
I suppose it’s a simplistic point, but the “unemployed” may be working. How do the figures account for the illicit drug trade? Which is massive? How does a career burglar show up in the figures? Or people working “off the books,” perhaps because they don’t want to report the income. They’re evading child support, maybe, or they’re collecting disability, and officially working would threaten that income stream.
At any rate, I’m not convinced Men Are Failing.
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Sure, but back in the day a man could sell drugs and burgle houses and still work a straight job.
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I was listening to a female caller on the Dave Ramsey show from the past week. She and her husband had been married four years. For the first year, he eventually told her that the Bible said that for the first year of marriage, husbands should stay home with their wives (there is actually something in the Old Testament about a draft exception for new husbands), so he wasn’t going to work. Then he got a 28-hour-a-week job that he’s had ever since. Recently, the wife lost her job, and she had a heart-to-heart with her husband about their situation. He figured they were OK with his 28-hour job, just so long as she got another job. When she asked him, he couldn’t remember the last time he had applied for a full-time job. Similarly, my parents’ employee recently kicked to the curb a surfer bum boyfriend who figured that the $200 in monthly food stamps he was an entirely adequate contribution to their household finances (he’s able-bodied, is turning down work, and is dodging child support obligations). I expect there’s some disengagement and depression mixed up in these guys’ attitude. I don’t know if this is a new thing, but they seem entirely unembarrassed.
On the other hand, I was just talking to my grandma. They’re finishing up the hay harvest and grandma was raving about the new Mormon kid from Idaho who was helping out. He was absolutely spectacular as a hay hand, apparently. He’s a farm kid, is on summer break from college, and is married.
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For the first year, he eventually told her that the Bible said that for the first year of marriage, husbands should stay home with their wives (there is actually something in the Old Testament about a draft exception for new husbands), so he wasn’t going to work.
That gets full points for something. Not theology or matrimony, but something.
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Good news: The cute employee ditched her surfer bum boyfriend.
Bad news: She immediately took up with a guy on disability with a medical marijuana license who is twice her age.
On second thought, the new guy does bring more to the table than the old boyfriend.
Oh, and the cute employee was apparently going on on Facebook about how awful it was that she was going to lose her cheap contraception if Planned Parenthood lost some funding. I don’t know–maybe stop having sex with losers? It’s a thought.
Maybe part of the problem with men today is that women have low standards?
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