White Collar Hell

"In the late 80s, when I wrote Fear of Falling, it looked like the part of the PMC [Professional Managerial Class] employed as corporate operatives was doing pretty well compared to the more academic and intellectual end of the PMC, which was beginning to get battered by HMOs (in the case of physicians), budget cuts (in the case of college professors, social workers, and others), etc.

"Starting in the late 80s, though — and insufficiently noted by me at the time — the corporate operative-types began to lose whatever purchase they had on stability. First there were the mergers and acquisitions of the 80s, which inevitably led to white collar job loss; then there was the downsizing of the 90s; and now of course the outsourcing of many business-professional functions. So no one is safe."

Inside Higher Ed has an interesting interview with Barbara Ehrenreich on her new book, Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream.