The end of the man's man

We are witnessing the passing of working-class masculinity by Margaret Wente

I think this article, predicated on the notion that the recent crisis in the auto- industry is dealing a death blow to working class masculine culture in Canada is well-thought out, if 20 years too late.

As far as I can tell, it's not the financial crisis that has killed working class culture and not just masculinity, it's the free market.

As Wente points out; "The defining value of working-class masculinity is the ability to stick up for yourself when someone tries to give you shit."

The ethos of sticking up for oneself, especially in a context of manual labour, is supported by strong collective agreements and a civic structure that gives workers, especially those on the line, whose relationship to management can have a significant power-imbalance, the right to agitate or "stick up for" themselves.

The erosion of masculine culture is not about job losses. For men, *and women* to feel that they can take power, they actually need to have some power in the first place.

In a free market the only people who have power are the ones with the financial security to start a business, the acumen to run a business, or the callousness to approach business as if the bottom line really mattered most of all. Failing that (as I do almost constantly) one can use soft skills, talent, strategic creativity and the capacity to bear risk into some kind of career. That's asking a lot of people, especially those with children to support.

That's why workers need collective rights. A meritocracy with no job security, save for what you make for yourself, is a sure-fire way to create a depressed and sure why not, de-masculinized underclass. But giving someone a job on the line isn't going to fix that problem. Re-investing in job security over income for executives and shareholders, valuing the concerns and needs of the working class - that will.