The continuity of work: Class consciousness in service and non-service jobs

Abstract

Service work is seen by many to be less generative of working-class consciousness than non-interactive labor. This article interrogates that hypothesis using an original survey ( N = 177) of New York State workers. Deploying intrinsic indicators for the intensity of service interaction and for working-class consciousness, the study finds that both the former and major demographic features fail to predict the latter while managerial status, workplace pain and discomfort, union membership, and job insecurity do. This supports an emergent view that services are broadly continuous with other forms of wage work and an older one that work itself is central to the production of class consciousness.