Deindustrialization: Sociology and Middle Class

One of the most dramatic social changes of the past half-century has been the decline of manufacturing employment in democratic states. What caused this dramatic social change? Research on deindustrialization, considers it one of the most controversial explanations that has been the impact of economic globalization. This phenomenon widely referred to as deindustrialization is triggering the fall of employment in the manufacturing sectors of the worlds most advanced economies. This economic change primarily has a large effect on the working class community. The working class is a population consisting of blue-collar workers, who are particularly skilled and semiskilled laborers referred to as property-less factory workers. The manufacturing industry provided millions of working class citizens a ticket into the middle class. Deindustrialization effects on working class communities are seen in the withdrawal of automobile plants in manufacturing communities and the opening of new automobile plants in less developed countries. Deindustrialization might not be across the board, but is the decline of manufacturing in one geographic area relative to others. This geographical area is referred to as the rust belt. “The Rust Belt refers to an economic region of the United States concentrated in the formerly dominant industrial states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The Rust Belt is a symbolic name for a devastating economic change” (Wikipedia, 2006). This economic change consists of tremendous economic decline in a region which includes the loss of manufacturing jobs in one plant towns leading to social break-down. For instance, an institutional neighborhood includes various groups of people, businesses and stores, practicing professionals, formal and informal organizations and various institutions. The institutional neighborhood is a larger unit that has some official status as a sub area of the city. The institutional neighborhood provides the

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