Winning Back the Working Class with Joan C. Williams

Progressives have lost sight of a central issue: class. Lawyer, professor, and author Joan C. Williams joins Break Fake Rules to unpack how the Left lost touch with working-class Americans—and how we can win them back. As income inequality deepens across the U.S. and Europe, Joan explains how class blind spots and broken promises have fueled distrust and driven voters toward the far right. Joan offers actionable, research-backed steps for funders and policymakers to rebuild trust, restore credibility, and reconnect with the working class.

Joan C. Williams: “Not only have we been class clueless, we've often been class condescending.”

Read Joan’s book, Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back.

Break Fake Rules is a podcast from the Stupski Foundation that questions philanthropy’s self-imposed rules and looks for ways philanthropy can better serve communities and contribute to lasting change. 

Learn about the Stupski Foundation’s work.

Host: Glen Galaich

Guest: Joan C. Williams

Producer: Claire Callahan