Episode Details

Author of the recently published 'Working Class New York,' Professor Freeman outlines the differences in New York before and after the financial crisis in the late 1970's. He speaks of the 'popular tribunes' of the early labor movement that came with a deep social agendas and individual charisma that helped focus and solve problems while doing the right thing by history and not always for themselves. Professor Freeman reminds us that two generations ago, NYC was a blue collar town and a major manufacturing center with a vast social divide between working class and the middle class, manifesting in social structure, recreation, personal dress, demeanor, as well as general appearance and well being. All these distinctions have blurred since the financial crisis, although the need for services continues to grow while the new immigrants to the city are unaware of what a city can offer its people.

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