Six Trends in Public Thinking about Work in the United States

Six Trends in Public Thinking about Work in the United States S I X T R E N D S Six Trends in Public Thinking about Work in the United States Is the current system of work in the United States—which many experience as insecure, unequal, and disempowering—amenable to a fundamental power shift in favor of workers, away from corporations and the wealthy? That is the question at the heart of an ongoin. [...] This set of mindsets enables contestation of the status quo and recognition of the need for and possibility of structural change. [...] Stronger endorsement of mindsets in the Collective, Structural, and Designed cluster tends to be accompanied by stronger endorsement of progressive policies—like a federal jobs guarantee, increasing the top rate of taxation, or making it easier to form and join unions—which does not tend to be the case for Individualist, Naturalistic, and Reactionary mindsets. [...] Six Trends in Public Thinking about 4 Work in the United States S I X T R E N D S What It Tells Us There is opportunity to shift the emphasis from self-made success to opportunity structures, particularly if we widen the lens and ask people to think about the economy as a whole rather than jobs, and groups of people rather than individuals. [...] In our related research on the economy, we find that members of the public can and (increasingly) do think about the economy as a designed system, so there is an opportunity to strengthen this thinking, and connect it explicitly to work.3 Communicators can do this by illustrating the role of government in shaping work through policy decisions and investments.