# Why are white-collar jobs held in higher esteem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168 "2010-09-27T01:47:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/1 "2010-09-27T01:47:52Z")
Rading the “is college for everyone” thread made me wonder: why does society hold white collar jobs in higher regard? (full disclosure: I’m guilty of this) ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/2 "2010-09-27T01:58:28Z")
Probably because white collar workers generally make more than blue collars and, in a capitalist society, a person’s worth is associated with how much they make. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/3 "2010-09-27T02:00:26Z")
Isn’t it usually the case, if not always the case, that to get a white collar job you need more education than for a blue collar job? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/4 "2010-09-27T02:04:17Z")
Because you need a college degree (generally speaking) to get one, and once upon a time, a college degree was a hard thing to get. Like any scare resource, those who have it are envied by those who don’t. Note that the esteem we hold college graduates has plummeted now that so many people have them, the job market is sucking and college graduates are working the counter at fast food places. Now we simply hold white collar jobs in esteem because they’re so hard to get! ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/5 "2010-09-27T02:06:13Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Isn’t it usually the case, if not always the case, that to get a white collar job you need more education than for a blue collar job? There are some blue collar jobs that require a significant amount of education. Welding, especially with exotic materials (meaning other than steel-to-steel) is a highly skilled job requiring significant training. That said, your point stands. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/6 "2010-09-27T02:33:40Z")
I think one factor is that a desk job is “clean” work. You don’t come home sweaty, smelly and tired. I think it’s pretty easy to see how this would translate into “higher class.” ---
**Author:** ![Mozart1220](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Mozart1220](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mozart1220)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/7 "2010-09-27T03:06:41Z")
I happen to find it satisfying to “work hard”. I like the physical jobs. My needs are simple and while it would be nice to be rich, it’s not really a neccesity for me. Besides, the physical labor keeps me out of the gym. The “tired” you feel from coming home knowing you have earned your money by accomplishing something is not a bad thing. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/8 "2010-09-27T03:16:15Z")
Hey Mozart: saves you a gym membership! ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/9 "2010-09-27T03:27:00Z")
Depends on what part of the country you’re in. In old Great Lakes/Rust Belt cities, blue-collar jobs, specifically well-paid, union jobs in factories, are romanticized, and the people holding such positions are seen as honest, salt-of-the-earth folks who helped built this country, as opposed to the white-collars who are “responsible for this mess”. The better-off people I know in exurban and rural areas tend to be general contractors, on in the skilled trades; welding, HVAC, carpentry, metalworking, and so on. One of my good friends says he will be pushing his children to enter the trades. Why? In the part of the country where I live, trade jobs are almost always union jobs, they pay very well (in many cases, more than white-collar jobs), there’s always positions available, and they can’t be outsourced. ---
**Author:** ![Mozart1220](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Mozart1220](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mozart1220)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/10 "2010-09-27T03:28:51Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > Hey Mozart: saves you a gym membership! Yes, I think I said that! I always thought it was hilarious that people spent that much money to get on a treadmill, when they could walk or run outside for FREE. I saw a late night commercial for a stairclimber. The set was a living room, with a STAIRWAY in the background, as if to say “Hey stupid! Don’t have to spend $600 on this thing!” ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/11 "2010-09-27T04:10:06Z")
Hey Mozart: Yes you did! DUH! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/12 "2010-09-27T07:28:12Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Depends on what part of the country you’re in. In old Great Lakes/Rust Belt cities, blue-collar jobs, specifically well-paid, union jobs in factories, are romanticized, and the people holding such positions are seen as honest, salt-of-the-earth folks who helped built this country, as opposed to the white-collars who are “responsible for this mess”. The better-off people I know in exurban and rural areas tend to be general contractors, on in the skilled trades; welding, HVAC, carpentry, metalworking, and so on. I’d agree with this. I took some university classes in Scarborough, a working-class suburb of Toronto, and some of my classmates were under intense pressure from their parents to just give up this higher education idea and get a nice, safe, union job at General Motors in Oshawa. Besides, line folks are real folks, as opposed to those university-educated management types, and you don’t want to be one of them, do you? Cheating the workers, like your parents and friends, and all that? Some of my classmates bought into this idea, and left school. Some didn’t. Regardless, the seeds were sown. ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/13 "2010-09-28T20:31:21Z")
I’ve worked a number of blue-collar summer positions as a way of saving money for university (Pulp/Sawmills). I know it is anecdotal, but some of the reasons I tend to view this positions as ‘lower’: - the _unbelievable_ amount of sexism and racism in the workplace. Progress anywhere is slow, but in these environments it’s frozen in time. - the incredibly crude and simple language used and the constant ‘joking’ insults thrown at one another. - the “ham and egg” nature of the conversations. 95% of the folks in the mill had nothing to say about anything unless it had to do with automotive accessories, UFC or WWE. - simpleton nature, high levels of apathy and disinterest in general (although at times I envy that ability). The tradesmen…I’ll give them credit for being truly clever and intelligent in regards to fitting those pipes, motors, valves and other mechanical things together, but there wasn’t much else under the hood for many of them. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/14 "2010-09-28T20:56:02Z")
No matter how skilled you are at your job, the guy behind the desk is the one who signs the checks. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/15 "2010-09-28T21:27:10Z")
Blue collar implies physical labor. Which implies you wear your body out. Which implies you won’t be able to keep your job (which also probably won’t pay as much) up to your 65th year. I worked with professional movers when I was in college. Those guys hardly ever kept their jobs into their middle 30s unless they got into “management”. There’s plenty of jobs you just won’t be able keep up that long. On the other hand, I know a lot of mechanics, installers etc who, though their work is pretty physical, get their “edge” from pure skill and knowledge, which is much easier to keep up with age (and I know some of them make more money than I do too), but those guys are also considered “blue collar”. I think the white vs blue collar distinction is really a Victorian idea that’s not really applicable to today’s world. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/16 "2010-10-02T06:14:33Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > I think one factor is that a desk job is “clean” work. You don’t come home sweaty, smelly and tired. I think it’s pretty easy to see how this would translate into “higher class.” It’s also safer work. While working in a factory or at a skilled trade is undoubtedly safer than it once was, there’s still a difference. Lower level office jobs might not pay nearly as much as some assembly line or trades work, but on the other hand you’re not going to have an anvil fall on you as you sit writing a report or running the file room. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/17 "2010-10-07T13:20:00Z")
Let’s not forget scarcity too. Don’t know if this is true any more, but at one time there were far fewer white collar jobs than blue collar jobs. We tend to like to be part of a select crowd/upper crust/secret society, so the simple fact that having a white collar job put you into a group where there were far fewer positions than folks who would like the positions granted status. As an aside, anyone know the numbers of white vs blue today? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/18 "2010-10-07T14:09:41Z")
I worked in an office where there was a map cabinet, metal, with narrow drawers where topographical maps were stored flat. About 4 ft. high and 6 ft. wide, 3 ft deep. The thing was, of course, very heavy, and it had to be moved. So every available spare ‘body’ was summoned to pick up the cabinet and carry it across the room. So all the big strong men were standing there talking about the best way to do it when my obnoxious white collar boss came in to see what was going on and said: “why don’t you take out all the drawers, move the cabinet, and then put the drawers back in?” :smack: So obvious a solution! Someone actually laughed and said that that was why the college educated white collar boss was the boss… ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/19 "2010-10-08T17:28:55Z")
> [@](#): > > As an aside, anyone know the numbers of white vs blue today? Probably depends on where you live and the nature of that respective economy. I’m in a largely staples driven economy (Northern Canada…actually, one could easily argue \*all \*Canada is a staples economy). Blue collar work remains dominant and in most cases pays significantly better than white collar work. The irony for me…I followed everything to the T…university, learn another language, travel, graduate school (in a professional capacity)…because education was going to get you places. Got me right into the legions of unemployed. In my local setting…that ‘preferred’ path is somewhat of a lie. Should have just worked at the mill. Still, like I said in a previous post…I can’t stand the blue-collar working environment. I prefer being unemployed as opposed to constantly insulting my co-workers and dropping racial/sexist slurs to earn respect. ---
**Author:** ![athelas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@athelas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/athelas)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168/20 "2010-10-08T18:58:56Z")
Ultimately I think it has to do a lot with bidirectional cultural bigotry: blue collar culture sees white collars as effete and unpatriotic; white collars disdain blue culture for lack of credentialled education and cultural conservatism. Note that wealth and total education is insufficient to account for this; the dominant white-collar culture still holds a highly skilled, high-earning plumber in less esteem than a less prosperous middle manager. Culture must play a role. A Martian observer explains the cultural divide here: [Unqualified Reservations: Castes of the United States](http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2007/05/castes-of-united-states.html) > [@](#): > > Let’s define a “caste” as a social group with its own internal status system. All hominids crave status and will exchange almost anything for it, but different castes assign status in very different ways - as we’ll see. > > Here’s my taxonomy of American castes. I’ve picked names from various historical cultures, hopefully without strong emotional associations for modern readers, for these castes. The implicit analogies these names create should be roughly accurate, but certainly not precise. I have ordered them alphabetically to avoid any implicit ranking… > > In the Brahmin caste, status among both men and women is defined by scholarly achievement, success in an intellectual profession, or position of civic responsibility. The highest-status Brahmins are artists and scientists, but Brahmins can also be doctors or lawyers, although it is much better to be a doctor than a lawyer, and much better to be a lawyer than a dentist (a trade which was perhaps once Brahmin, but is now definitely Vaisya). Ideally, as a Brahmin, if you are a doctor you should be primarily concerned with caring for the poor; if you are a lawyer, your practice should focus on civil liberties and social justice - cardiology and corporate law are slightly de trop. An increasing number of young Brahmins consider themselves “activists” and work for “nonprofits” or “NGOs,” lending some credence to the theory that the Brahmins are our ruling or governing caste. Entry into the Brahmin caste is conferred almost entirely by first-tier university admissions, although getting into Harvard doesn’t mean you don’t still need to make something of yourself… > > The Vaisya caste is the most difficult to define. It’s tempting to say that a Vaisya is anyone who is not a Brahmin, Dalit, Helot or Optimate. Status among Vaisya men is conferred by productive employment, generally defined in monetary terms; by a successful family life; and by participation in church or other formal social groups. Status among Vaisya women is conferred by attractiveness, motherhood, and social participation, with an increasing number of Vaisya women entering the labor force, typically in unintellectual white-collar jobs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-white-collar-jobs-held-in-higher-esteem/555168.md?page=2)