Pocket Worthy, September 30, 2019: The Spiritual Crisis Of The Modern Economy
What is happening to America’s White working class?
The group’s important, and perhaps decisive, role in the 2016 presidential election sparked a slew of commentary focused on, on the one hand, its nativism, racism and sexism, and, on the other, its various economic woes. While there are no simple explanations for the desperation and anger visible in many predominantly White working-class communities, perhaps the most astute and original diagnosis came from the rabbi and activist Michael Lerner, who, in assessing Donald Trump’s victory, looked from a broader vantage point than most. Underneath the populist ire, he wrote, was a suffering “rooted in the hidden injuries of class and in the spiritual crisis that the global competitive marketplace generates.”
