Men Leaving the Workforce & Trump’s Appeal to Resentment

One wonders why the presidential race is as close as it is.  One reason giving is that many young men are contemplating voting for Trump.  Here is one headline, “Young men’s economic prospects are shifting along with their politics.”*

The primary cause for this shift, we are told, is typified in a story of an 18-year-old Pennsylvania man voting for the first time.  His top financial priorities are having enough money for gas, dining out and spending on his girlfriend while living at home with his parents.  He’s seen prices rise and inflation swell during his teen years.  Trump can run America like a business and Kamala would run it as a classroom, he comments.

This is not what economists are saying, however, in comparing Harris’ economic plan to Trump’s.  The vast majority see Trump’s promises of tariffs on imported goods as a recipe for financial disaster, including a huge swelling of the national debt and a hastening of Social Security’s demise—which would surely threaten those living at home with their parents.** 

Young men were seen “as a solidly Democratic group less than two decades ago,” we are told, but have been shifting further to the right politically as their economic outlook has been on a downward trajectory, especially among those without a college degree.

A researcher comments that traditional norms around masculinity and what it means to be a man and a husband are wrapped up in economic success, and that makes it really, really challenging when their economic outlook is not as bright.

Seventy percent of 18-29-year-old female voters plan to vote for Harris, while 53% of likely male voters that age will vote for Harris.  In 2008, 66% of young men voted for Obama, who addressed this shift on the campaign trail last week saying, I’m sorry, gentlemen, I’ve noticed this, especially with some who seem to think some of Trump’s behavior—the bullying and the putting people down—is a sign of strength.  I am here to tell you: That is not what real strength is.  It never has been. 

Seventy-four percent of young women are mostly financially independent, compared to 62% of young men according to a recent Pew survey.  Close to 50% of young women hold a bachelor’s degrees today, compared to 37% of young men.  And this gap grows yearly.

Another headline reads: More men in their prime working years are neither working nor looking for jobs—here’s why.***  We are told that 10.5% of men in their prime working years—which is roughly 6.8 million men nationwide, “are neither working nor looking for employment.”  In 1954, it was just 2.5% of men. 

A political economist at the American Enterprise Institute observes that the long-term decline in labor force participation by so-called prime-age men is a tremendous worry for our society, our economy and probably our political system.

It is especially the non-college-educated men who are dropping out of the labor force.  And the number of men attending college keeps dropping every year.

Does an increasing number of men dropping out of the workforce help explain the shift in men’s growing appeal to Trump and his entreaties to Resentment?  When men lack meaningful work, they rarely feel good about themselves.

*Shannon Pettypiece and Jake Traylor, “Young men’s economic prospects are shifting, along with their politics.” NBC News.

** Arthur Delaney, “Donald Trump’s Proposals Would Hurt Social Security’s Finances, Analysis Finds.” Huffpost.com.

***Juhohn Lee, “More men in their prime working years are neither working nor looking for jobs — here’s why.” CNBC.com.

See Matthew Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

See also Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

See also Fox, The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society, pp. 290-292.

Banner Image: “Rage.” Photo by Warren on Unsplash

Queries for Contemplation

Do you see a correlation between choosing to drop out of work and a rising resentment that politicians can exploit?

Recommended Reading

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time

Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics