Or a white collar one? Why does it seem that Midwestern/Northern cities are the only ones to get the designation of "blue collar" (e.g. Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, etc.)? I understand that those cities were historically industrial centers, but then you get a city like Los Angeles, which happens to be the biggest manufacturing center in the nation and also has the nation's biggest port, which would never be considered a "blue collar" town (mostly because of the 'Hollywood' stereotype, I guess). So what is Houston? And what is a "blue collar" town? Is it just a term that happens to apply to every town that used to be nice but now is $h1t?
I grew up east of 45 and live and have worked west of it, there's a clear demarcation in the types of jobs, people and local amenities to identify a sizable blue collar portion. In Baytown it seemed extremely difficult for anyone to visualize working anywhere other than the plant, and the smart kids would either want to be engineers, nurses or just leave the state altogether. Until maybe gas futures, merchant energy and the insane I-banking presence that brought 20 - 25 years ago, it seems like most of the cash came through the racks, rails and the port; whereas downtown was just for admin/accounting, design talent and bank loans. I don't think anyone in Dayton or Mont Belview carps about Austin being hipper than Houston or vice versa.
Incidentally all major cities have a blue collar portion, but when they're mostly black and immigrant it's called a ghetto.
Would figure it means cities where the PREDOMINANT occupation is industrial related AND the people derive their identity and "hard work" attitude from it. Los Angeles needs its manufacturing for sure, but without manufacturing it'd still have plenty other industries to get identity from. Detroit is obvious example of depending on manufacturing and it influencing attitudes, definite blue collar. New York and Boston have "tough" labels, but its not from an industrial base. And yeah, it seems to describe larger cities that have lots of poorer people in it
Blue collar usually suggested unionized working class, such as auto manufacturing, but the war on organized labor is driving that way of life into extinction. Houston still has the ship channel, still has some of that base, but there's less of it every year. Don't make the mistake of calling minimum wage employees working class. They aren't. They're simply poor. Working class implied physical labor, but with just enough pay to have an acceptable life. McDonald's employees work their ass off, but have no chance at a decent life because they are underpaid. Sorry if my reply is too political for hangout, but it's important the phrase be used correctly, otherwise it gets co-opted by the 1% and used as propaganda. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_in_the_usa#Image_and_social_issues
I lived in St Louis for a short time and always tell people that there are white collar towns and blue collar towns but St Louis is wife beater. What a complete ****hole that town is.
