Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America

by Tamara Draut

There was a time when America’s working class was seen as the backbone of the American economy, having considerable political, economic, and moral authority. But the working class we have now—far more female and racially diverse and employed by the fast food, retail, health care, and other service industries—has been marginalized, if not ignored, by politicians and pundits. This is changing, swiftly and dramatically.  

Today’s working class is a sleeping giant. And as Tamara Draut makes abundantly clear, it is just now waking up to its untapped political power. Sleeping Giant is the first major examination of the new working class and the role it will play in our economic and political future. Blending moving individual narratives, historical background, and sophisticated analysis, Draut forcefully argues that this newly energized class is far along in the process of changing America for the better.

Draut examines the legacy of exclusion based on race and gender that contributes to the invisibility of the new working class, despite their entwinement in everyone’s day-to-day life. No longer confined to the assembly line, today’s working class watches our children and cares for our parents. They park our cars, screen our luggage, clean our offices, and cook and serve our meals. They are us. 

With “Fight for $15” minimum-wage protests popping up throughout the country (and in some places winning) and economic inequality being recognized as one of the defining issues of our time, today’s working class will soon become impossible to ignore and foolish to dismiss. Sleeping Giant is the first book to tell the story of this extraordinary transformation in full and inspiring detail.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Economics, Labor, Class, Social Justice, Womens

272 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2016

About the author

Tamara Draut has written extensively about major economic issues facing Americans. She is the Director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, a public policy center based in New York City. She is the author of numerous reports, and has conducted groundbreaking research on household debt in America. Tamara's work on debt has been covered extensively by dozens of newspapers, including the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal and USA Today. Tamara is a frequent television commentator and has appeared on the Today Show, ABC World News Tonight, CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight and Fox News. Strapped is her first book.

Tamara holds an M.P.A. from Columbia University and a B.S.J. from Ohio University.

From her website

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at the AAC&U annual meeting in January after seeing the author on a panel (the panel was great, she was great, glad I attended!). Finally got around to reading it, and it was really good. Well-written, powerful, very important. This is one of those "must-read if you care even a little bit about the society you live in" books.

Clearly, I feared that it would be dry and/or depressing, because I let it sit for quite a while. But all I needed to do was start reading to realize it was neither dry nor depressing, by vital and inspiring. Yes, it does chronicle a lot of problems, but it also pushes through to the solutions that are starting to happen all around us. So it left me feeling hopeful, oddly enough. I say "oddly enough" because the book was clearly written before the 2016 election had taken place, so Trump was just a sort of warning cloud growing on the horizon, and not the hideous nightmare that he has since become. But somehow this book helps me believe we will get through this, one way or the other. Give it a read!

[Alex Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a lot of solid information in here. The blueprint for a better society at the end of the book is particularly good because it provides a list of tangible demands that we can work towards. That said, there are places where her analysis could have gone deeper. I would've also liked to see the scope of this book expanded to include people who do criminalized forms of labor (for example, I kept wondering what this book would have read like if she had also addressed the concerns of the sex workers rights movement).

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

An eye-opening look at how race and sex intersect with the lowly status of today's working class which consists of more women and racial minorities than the white, male, blue-collar factory worker that politicians love to reminisce about. Could've used with some more depth and detail but still a good overview of a very important topic.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit dry and boring but informative. The book would have been better had it been written with an objective perspective. Draut is opinionated with a clear bias and doesn't back away from name calling and looking down on authors and politicians she doesn't like. The points she tries to make are often lost in her vitriol.

[T.L. Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America by Tamara Draut provokes thought, anger, disbelief, and hope all in a few short pages. Draut investigates and illuminates the struggle of the working class in America as well as the importance of the jobs so often pushed to the side and misunderstood by the very people who are working class as well as those who are middle and upper class. She demonstrates how little we truly understand our own economy, taxes, and, sadly, way of life. I felt sharp pangs as I thought about times when I didn't stop to appreciate service I received or worse yet complained about service that was adequate but not top-notch. We so often assume we know things we don't know based on our own circumstances, but Sleeping Giant delves into all those areas where we make ourselves willfully blind so we don't have to face the reality of our choices and the reality of other people's lives. As I read about the deplorable conditions corporations in America get away with in spite of all of our so called worker protections I felt ill. Draut backs up her opinions, conclusions and conjecture with facts and evidence based on research. She marries research and anecdotes in a way that gives the facts a human face. Sleeping Giant challenged assumptions and pushed buttons I didn't even know I had, but Draut also left me with hope that we can change the future for not just the working class but for everyone.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

The working class needs a better deal. That they can only obtain better wages and terms of employment after 'waking up' to their political potential, is a given.

The real question is, how will the current and future working class create enough heat to thaw out the plutocrats, or to burn up decades of unfavorable legislation (including Citizen’s United)? So far, Occupy Wall Street and Fight for $15 haven’t really achieved self-sustaining ignition. It’s not that the movements fizzled out, exactly, but we have yet to hear from politicians on the national stage pay more than lip service to them.

I read this book last week along with James Stone’s Five Easy Theses:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Both Stone and Traut agree on the centrality of maintaining a viable middle class. By contrast, Stone, as an actuary, approaches wealth from the point of view of fiscal policy; Traut is fully in the trenches. As she puts it (p215): “The trajectory of downward mobility experienced by my immediate family is far from unique”.

As a final aside, Traut explained to me a fact I had never paid attention to before. Yet, I recognized its truth instantly. At some point in your life when you require medical care, more than likely it will be a black female nursing assistant who takes care of you. Traut gives the backstory on why this is so, and why you might want to care about it.

[Kyle Nicholas · Rating 1 out of 5]

A puke-fest of identity politics. I truly couldn't finish this one. I was basically all-in until the typical liberal white male bashing (so racism and sexism is not okay until you do it to the "privileged"? That is exactly why Donald Trump won the election.) If you need this reviewer to point out all the places in which the author used false claims, trumped-up but spurious research, and double-standards to promote falsehoods, then you haven't been paying attention. Or you're a brainwashed liberal.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, thoughtful and accurate look at the current state of the economy for the working class. The working class has shifted from blue collar manufacturing jobs to service economy, and in the mean time has lost the wages and benefits that those union jobs once guaranteed. Insight into...

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recommend this book which describes the disastrous situation that working Americans are in now and then offers some hope for the future with examples of movements that are taking hold and succeeding.

[Jim Hardesty · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "must-read" for all!

[Michael Schill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough and inspirational.

[Daniel Miessler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty decent.

https://danielmiessler.com/projects/r...

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Draut is not shy about sharing her views she also manages to convey to the reader the reality of working people’s lives. From explaining her criteria for inclusion into this category, to explaining why it is important to differentiate it from the much more common catch-all “middle class”, to tackling its gendered and racial nature this book is just massively informative. Her analysis of the way the lives of working people seemed to have vanished from media and the news goes a long way in explaining to the reader how is it that the views and realities of a third of all US workers can make so little impact in the society at large. While her discussions of the history of the labor movement and its decline are not unbiased by any stretch of the imagination, she does manage to convey the political struggle that has been going on since the 1970s to roll back its gains under the New Deal. While I would have liked a discussion on why these “low-skilled” jobs are still important in an era of increasing automation, this book is still worth reading even if only for the wealth of information Draut gives the reader about this sector of the US economy.

[Joshua Lawson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sleeping Giant was for the most part a surprisingly delightful read. I agree with the author's main premise that the hope for a just reconfiguration of western social/political life lies in a resurgence of the American labor movement, only now under leadership that better reflects the actual makeup of the modern-day working class. This means centering the lived experience of women, black people, and other minorities who are struggling to make ends meet at the bottom of the wage scale.

[Lauren Thornberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a good book packed with useful information. If you're not already aware of the struggles of the working class, this book will radicalize you; if you're already aware, this book will give you resources and inspiration for organizing. I love that Draut doesn't just highlight an issue, she also proposes solutions. This book is so well-researched and nicely organized. HIGHLY recommend.

[Bryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This made me so angry that it was very difficult to read, but of course not so difficult as life is made for hundreds of thousands of people in my country. I am still thinking what to do about it all, other than donate money freely to the people who are working to improve things.

[Mengrelaos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful! Also very dense, like drinking from a fire hose at times. But I prefer that to "padding" a book with pointless words. Definitely worth your time.

[Rick Vickers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I don't agree with everything presented in this book it did open my eyes

[sophia.｡.:*☆ · Rating 5 out of 5]

very much enjoyed this book i listened to it on audible every morning on my way to class cus i have a 30 min commute and it made me feel very productive listening to it and i learned a lot 🤓

[James W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written before the 2016 election, Sleeping Giant refers to the “working class” and the amount of strength that they possess in creating the necessary change. Tamara Draut provides great information on the history, current context, and solutions for the future. While some of her hopeful optimism was unfortunately unfounded after the 2016 election and she clearly had a strong bias, I found her writing style quite accessible and her ideas not entirely groundless. I had hoped for more insight and details as she expected the reader to know about many aspects, but as an introductory work to unions and the failure of America’s democracy, it was quite interesting.

[aoife · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book felt like a review of what i already knew, especially given the author and i share many critiques of the exploitative upper class. however, i think sleeping giant and this video make for great introductory political education. i thoroughly enjoyed how this book has perspective from right before the trump era, and i wonder if 1) the author still holds onto her optimism for the working class 2) the research holds up to today, after the devastating effects of the trump presidency and the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected much more. There were too many grand proclamations without enough evidence to support them. I was also very disappointed in the attack on The Washington Post regarding the coverage of the Recession of 2007.

[Ben Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important call for a more solidified working class without disparaging the importance of gender, race, orientation in a political movement.

[Al Owski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent book if you have a passion to work towards social justice, equality, and social mobility. Tamara shares her own experiences, her family's journey between the working and middle class, and cites numerous examples of successes and failures of the new working class to mobilize. I appreciate her emphasis on moving beyond activism (street protests) to pragmatic politicking (campaigning). She sets an optimistic tone while admitting that the social fragmentation, the gig economy, and individualism mitigate against joining forces for change. With fewer churches and even fewer unions, social cohesiveness is fragile at best. Grass roots organizing has to move beyond the next election. Perhaps new social structures are required. In any case, Tamara's book is a worthy addition to conversation about social inequality.