The Cultural Divide

Another major problem is the lack of appreciation for the difference between blue-collar and white-collar culture. This is generally caused by the different tasks and schedules required by each type of career. These cultural differences can cause unneeded friction. I don’t have an elaborate sociological study that carefully defines what blue-collar culture looks like. If such a thing exists, I wasn’t able to find it. However, I am an electrician, raised by a father who worked doing in-home couch repair, and I have known dozens of mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, janitors, truck drivers, military men, and, of course, electricians. So, for this part I will be relying mostly on personal experience and observation.

[This is an excerpt from my book “The Blue-Collar Blindspot” grab a copy here]

From what I’ve seen in my life, the three main features of blue-collar culture are to wake up early, work hard, and build things. Any one of these may also apply to many white-collar workers, but these are foundational pillars of blue-collar culture. As far as white-collar culture goes, I don’t have much direct experience. I do know that the exact definition of what is early, what is hard, and what is building are different for an accountant than for a plumber. The primary values are not the same, and therein lies the difficulty in communication. Each group has different values, and those differences affect the way each group sees the world.

One of those differences is how blue-collar men define 'early'. Most construction work starts at 6:00 am, though many job sites can start at 5:30 am or even 5:00 am. That means waking up at 4:00 am or 5:00 am every day for time to shower and drive to work. Sometimes we wake up at 3:00 am or as early as 2:30 am for a long drive or if we need to beat traffic. Whilst this schedule might sound exhausting to some, the upside is awesome. Blue-collar workers get to beat rush-hour both ways and get the entire afternoon to ourselves, when we’re not working overtime. Culturally, it means 7:00 am isn’t early; it’s probably lunch time. It’s also difficult to emotionally connect to a sermon intended to apply to the workplace when the pastor talks about “getting up early at 7:00 am” to start the “nine to five.”

In addition to being early, blue-collar shifts can also be irregular. Many blue-collar professions require evening, overnight, or swing shifts. It's commonplace to work weekends and holidays with almost no vacation days. This means the blue-collar idea of early and late shifts can be very different from someone who works in an office or who telecommutes, even if they have their own issues with overtime and shift work. All of this makes blue-collar culture one of getting up early or working late.

In addition to getting up early, we work hard, with a large portion of blue-collar work involving physical labor. This is not to say other careers are not difficult, but how they are difficult is very different. It would be normal for most workers to regularly carry fifty-to-eighty-pound objects up a ladder, to spend hours kneeling on a concrete floor turning a wrench or screwdriver, or to work forty feet in the air in the bucket of a bucket truck, swaying in the wind. Or we might spend hours underneath someone's car, shoulders deep in the engine as an every-day work environment. Some men work down in a mine, praying to see the sun again, day after day. It re-calibrates your concept of what is heavy, what is hard to do, and what should make you tired.

When a pastor says, “hard work,” speaking about cubicles and water coolers, the blue-collar worker thinks, “You have a breakroom and get to use an indoor toilet? Lucky.” These commonplace accommodations are luxuries for us and hard won when you get even one of them. Someone complaining about the AC being too high seems unfathomable, like complaining that your yacht isn’t big enough.

It’s not that blue-collar work is hard and white-collar work is not. They are different kinds of hard. I would rather do twelve hours in a coal mine than eight hours of data entry. I've adapted skills and strength that make it easy for me to climb a fifteen foot ladder to wire up a sixty amp electrical disconnect, but I would struggle to fill out a quarterly report.

The majority of my experience has been that pastors neglect to take these occupation based cultural differences into account in the pulpit or in their personal interactions. They often speak of water cooler chats, or trouble in the breakroom, or sitting in a cubicle when applying the sermon to the workplace. It makes it difficult for the application to reach your heart when listening to sermons on the radio in your work truck at 4 am.

I believe the cause of the disconnect is that most modern pastors don't have a blue-collar background. Some began their ministries right out of seminary. They just don’t have much, if any, work experience to draw illustrations from. Perhaps a few summer jobs and an internship. Many other pastors found their calling after working in an office for several years. The work of most modern pastors’ takes place in and around offices. They may have never set foot on a construction site or factory floor. If you’re not intentional, it’s easy to let your style of speech skew toward your environment. This means white-collar rhetoric for most pastors as the natural course of things.

The cultural divide between the blue-collar and white-collar people groups is only insurmountable if you don’t know it’s there. Fish don’t think about being underwater. Likewise, I believe most pastors don’t think about how they are swimming in white-collar culture. It doesn‘t occur to them to consider the difference between how blue-collar and white-collar congregants understand and communicate ideas. The divide between these two cultures can be easily bridged once people become aware they exist and are familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each. You need to know from which culture you are sending your message and by which culture it’s being received.

Blue-collar men build things and then maintain those things. This is true whether we're talking about construction work or factory assembly lines. It’s true of how law enforcement builds and maintains security and how miners build and maintain a mine. Some professions work in concert, such as factory workers building cars that mechanics fix and maintain.

Blue-collar jobs are typically focused on a set number of mutually supportive tasks that accomplish a single goal. There is little need for metrics, inventories, or surveys to determine if a job is done. Things either work or they don’t. Did the lights come on? Does the toilet flush? Is it hot in here? Does the car start? Did a prisoner escape? Blue-collar workers identify what needs to be done and do it. Then they find the next thing to do. In contrast, the white-collar world of offices and conference rooms is an ocean of meetings, emails, and shifting customer expectations. It’s difficult to clearly define the bounds of a project, who’s responsible, and the conditions for success. On the chance there are clear conditions for success, that doesn’t mean they will stay that way, scope creep can occur and ruin what little clarity there may have been.

Blue-collar workers run on simple, direct plans and instructions and tend to think in three questions. The first two are: “What do I do?” and, "How do I do it?" The third is "What's next?" Since blue-collar work tends to go step-by-step, the work process can be simplified into these three questions.

Elaborating on "What do I do?" and, "How do I do it?", we’re used to blueprints, standard operating procedures, and strictly-regulated building codes. Our tasks are nearly always clear and consistent, resulting in a culture that demands clear, actionable communication. The work has a way of giving direct and immediate feedback, so, blue-collar workers become people who give direct and immediate feedback. Examples could be: “That was stupid.” or, “That’s dangerous.” or, “That looks like garbage.”

We expect people, including pastors, to communicate with us in clear and actionable ways. Blue-collar culture doesn’t play coy or worry about feelings. A foreman or sergeant will yell and cuss and tell you to get back to work. Conflicts are intense, but brief.

In contrast, white-collar culture tends to be one of tact and manners. Offices are cramped places where workers spend hours and hours within ten feet of their coworkers, listening to them breathe over the sound of typing. Being polite is a survival skill to keep everyone happy because there are endless opportunities for drama. If a disagreement occurs, it could take weeks to resolve, if ever. Hurting the wrong person’s feelings could ruin your future at a company and maybe your entire career.

Elaborating on “What’s next?”, every task in the blue-collar world fits on top of the previous in a clear and precise manner. Every task we perform naturally progresses to the next. We lay the foundation to frame the walls. The walls then support the roof. The roof protects the drywall and paint. Every job leads to the next.

When we become Christians we naturally ask, “What do I do?”

We’re told, “You go to church.”

“What’s next?” we ask.

“Next? You’re already saved.” they say.

“But, what do I do?”

The answer is, “Salvation isn’t by works.”

“But what’s next?”

You can see how the breakdown in communications is almost immediate. The white-collar pastor would try to correct the error of works-based salvation, and the blue-collar parishioner knows that works don’t get you to heaven. But we have to do something before we die. What is it? When the only answer is read your Bible and pray every day, knowing that your works don’t matter, we feel empty. Both sides are right, but talking past each other.

Half of the battle really is just knowing. Simply being aware of a language and culture difference makes the basics of the solution obvious. Learn to speak blue-collar language and learn about blue-collar culture. Start talking about service trucks when you would mention desks in a sermon. When you talk about making time for daily devotions, acknowledge that some people in your congregation get up every day at 3:00 am. The solution doesn’t need to be elaborate, blue-collar workers just want to know you’re aware they exist and you appreciate their contribution to society. I spend more time in the last chapter on specific recommendations for blue-collar engagement.

[This is an excerpt from my book “The Blue-Collar Blindspot” grab a copy here]