A wide swath of white American men are down in the dumps, their dire mood showing up in everything from mortality statistics to national politics.
Working-age men who have dropped out of the US workforce were found to be more stressed and sadder than their peers in both poor and rich countries, according to a new study released by the Brookings Institution. The unhappiness gap between out-of-work men and those with jobs is also much wider in the US.
A key step to improve their outlook: asking them how they feel. Had the American government been measuring well-being indicators, it would have noticed the sagging optimism among blue-collar, working-age white men years ago, says Carol Graham, one of the authors of the Brookings paper.
“We might have averted the crisis,” she says.
What are well-being indicators?
Rather than measuring the economy or employment, well-being measures focus on emotional and physical health and whether people find their lives meaningful. Some countries, including the UK and Bhutan, have started collecting well-being statistics.
The US government has added a few well-being questions in some surveys, though they’re not asked yearly or across the country, says Graham, a public-policy professor at the University of Maryland. For her work, she’s been using responses to Gallup polls, which include questions that measure well-being.
What do the polls say about American white men?
Surveys show that optimism among white, non-college-educated men started to nosedive in the 1970s. That drop is all the more stark because optimism went up among blacks and hispanics, says Graham.
She and her colleagues mapped white men’s dissatisfaction. They found it concentrates in places with struggling industries, including coal and traditional manufacturing, and in areas that voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. It also overlaps with places with a high rate of drug overdoses and suicide deaths, which have driven down US life expectancy overall.
How are American men feeling compared to others?
The researchers also used Gallup polls taken around the world to gauge how working-age, out-of-work men—who are are disproportionately white in the US—feel around the world. They compared across regions—the European Union, the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, and the US—and among employed, unemployed, and out-of-work men within countries. (The unemployed are actively looking for a job, while those out of work are not counted as part of the labor force.)
What they found is that out-of-work, prime-age US men generally score lower on well-being than men in the same situation elsewhere. Here’s how Americans fared vs. their international peers, based on questions about how they felt compared to the day before, across a range of emotions:
US men vs. peers in: | Sadness | Stress | Anger | Smile/laugh | Enjoyment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Latin America | more | more | more | less | less |
Middle East & North Africa | more | more | less | more | more |
EU | more | more | more | less | less |
Why are some American men so unhappy?
It’s not surprising that out-of-work white men in economically devastated pockets of the US are unhappy. But why are they less optimistic and more unsatisfied than men who are worse off, like those in poor countries and poorer blacks and Hispanics in the US?
The downturn in their life narrative plays a role. For decades, white working-class men could count on making a decent living without a college education or government help, says Graham. Now that’s no longer the case, and they feel threatened.
Minorities, meanwhile, are used to the challenges of discrimination and other adversity not faced by many whites, which can make them more resilient. Any progress—which blacks and Hispanics have seen over the past few decades, in terms of education, life expectancy and other indicators—seems like winning, even if it still leaves them on an unequal footing with whites.
The same phenomenon applies in places like Latin American and the Middle East, where many people are used to hardship.
Are Trump’s policies helping angry, white men?
In many ways, Trump’s rhetoric and policies are specifically directed at this cohort of unhappy, white men. Is he helping them get to a better place?
His efforts to bring back manufacturing have been mixed at best. Though unemployment has gone down since he took office, US companies continue to shift jobs overseas, including thousands that Trump promised to save. And some of his policies designed to make American workers more competitive, such as raising tariffs, are hurting manufacturers and farmers.
Trump has also tried to fight the US opioid epidemic by declaring it a national emergency. Last year, he approved $1 billion in federal funding to fight it. Still, efforts so far fall far short of the challenge, experts say.
Turning depressed communities around is decidedly hard. Graham says there are proven measures that community leaders could roll out to improve the local mood, including activities that promote social connections and exercise. “It doesn’t cost much and it can reinvigorate community spirit,” she says.
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True: a cousin of mine (white male 60yo) committed suicide over the weekend. Don’t know why but he had been out of work since Thanksgiving.
Been through it; give all the support you can, this week and for many more to come.
.
Donkey,I faced that situation when I was 60. It sucks. There is plenty of company out there. I know many who are in the same situation. I made it, credit to a good woman.
Overthecliff,
Wow, I had no idea you would have gone through that. I’m very happy to hear you pulled through it. My cousin never even had a girlfriend. Ever. Can you imagine that?
Why did he commit suicide, then?
No word about the reason yet. Haven’t heard if there was a note or not. He was a serious loner. Lived with his parents 54 out of 60 years of his life.
I have noticed from reading the local obits regularly that an awful lot of the men dead in their 50’s or early 60’s are unmarried with no families.
The author of this article has his premise backwards.
It is white (heterosexual) men who are discriminated against the most in the employment sector. When white men struggle, doing their damnedest to procure gainful employment and see themselves being bypassed, in favor of unqualified or less experienced minorities, it is no wonder that they are “unhappy”.
I’ve been in that situation (out of work for over two years) and know what it is like.
Maybe it’s time to let the women put on their pink hats and “follow their dream” while we go fishing. See how well that pays the bills.
“Minorities, meanwhile, are used to the challenges of discrimination and other adversity not faced by many whites” BS alarm ringing loudly. As soon as I read that, I stopped reading. If conclusions are based on faulty premises, it’s GIGO.
This is a crock of shit. Fred Reed said it best. Why are we orienting our entire society around the wants and inabilities of unproductive ( insert whatever unproductive minority group you want) people?
Not me. Fuck work.
I’m semi-retired and not quite 50.
If I voted, I’d vote for a leisure society.
Supporting kids would change that perspective. Yes, my choice, my bed, and I don’t regret it, but sometimes I’m envious of that retired world, but in the end the kids and hopefully grandkids are worth it.
They are.
It’s because of Affirmative Action Discrimination Stupid.
Worked for #19 (once upon a time) on Forbes 500. AA did not produce a single employee at my location that could produce even at the average. Not a single one. Some were decent people, some were scared as rabbits knowing their presence there was due to government mandate. The salary spent versus average (at best) results was not the issue; the real issue was the detrimental effect on some employees who internalized the unfairness of having to work and coach people who did not measure up otherwise.
White men will have to adapt and overcome because nobody gives a shit. If they can’t do that they will be Darwined.
Get rich: sell black shoe polish.
It’s the pathway to the governorship of Virginia.
optimism among white, non-college-educated men started to nosedive in the 1970s
LBJ’s Great Society, Civil Rights Act, ramp up in Vietnam War: all in the mid-60s.
Government meddling controlled by the circle jerk of Wall Street to K-Street to Capitol Street caused the swath of suffering of white males . The policies bought and paid for by government insiders traded middle class white mens industrial jobs for sweat shop industry overseas and government jobs occupied by every race in such a disproportionate number it could only be a deliberate move to brake the financial back of white men in America . Congratulations they did it !
If any other group of people had the addiction and alcoholism rates , the depression and sucicide rates leftist congress people would be pounding the podium for money to alleviate their suffering . The white male is the new nigger for all but a few groups . We are truly left behind unless “THEY” need a war for profit somewhere then we again become the pick of the litter to perform those dirty life threatening tasks in some shithole of the circle jerks making .
We know it and are checking out figuratively and literally .
Go blow yourself and your kids up so Nike can make shoes in Nam or China can dump products for our unemployed to play with .
Now you wonder about white mens emotional state of wellness !
Fuck off , you in government , academia , business and industry have been butt fucking us telling us how horrible and undeserving we are for decades so now you give a rats ass about us ?
Just exactly what do you band of fools need us for now ??