Virtual Event | Is There a Future for the American Middle Class?

Please be advised: This event will premiere LIVE on this page at 12:00 p.m. EDT, Monday, March 22.

Join Hudson Institute’s Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead for a discussion with author Michael Lind on the future of America’s middle class in an age of automation and globalization, and prospects for the GOP as the party of the working class.

Social and economic changes are putting immense pressure on the American working class. The college-educated managerial class has gained higher social status as industries dominated by blue collar, middle class Americans are under pressure from automation and global trade. Donald Trump campaigned against this trend, and his success with blue-collar voters has led many to recast the GOP as the natural party of the working class. As the American economy becomes increasingly mechanized, what role will the middle class play in American life? Will the Republican Party’s gains with blue collar voters prove to be a permanent shift?

This conversation is part of a series entitled “The Future of the Middle Class” hosted by Hudson Institute’s Center for the Future of Liberal Society. In this series, Hudson Distinguished Fellow Walter Russell Mead moderates thought-provoking discussions with policy experts on some of the most pressing challenges associated with rebuilding the economy and promoting the prosperity of America’s middle class.