Harvard Business Review Press is pleased to announce the acquisition of White Working Class, a new book from Joan C. Williams, Distinguished Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Center of WorkLife at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

White Working Class publishes on May 16, 2017 and builds on Williams’s popular Harvard Business Review article, “What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class,” which has garnered nearly 2.5 million unique page views since it was published in November, 2016. The piece immediately struck a nerve with readers following the election as Williams bluntly argued the role white working class voters had in electing Republican Donald Trump as U.S. President, and why class, not gender or race, is driving American politics.

In the book, Williams looks at the populist movements that are gaining traction among the white working class, and examines why so much of the professional elite—journalists, managers, and establishment politicians—is left on the outside looking in, arguing over the reasons why. She argues that much of the analysis of the white working class is misguided, and often rooted in assumptions by what she has controversially coined “class cluelessness.” Here, she delves deeper into the class culture gap, race, gender, and how the term “working class” has been misapplied.

“Joan Williams’s essay for HBR was among the most powerful explanations of the white working class and the culture class rift that’s been growing in this country over the past 40 years,” said Tim Sullivan, Editorial Director of Harvard Business Review Press. “White Working Class is a convincing primer on how to connect with a crucial set of workers, and I am thrilled to have it as part of our list.”

For more on White Working Class visit: http://s.hbr.org/2kjyz2T

About the Author

Joan C. Williams is Distinguished Professor of Law, UC Hastings Foundation Chair, and the Founding Director of the Center for WorkLife Law at UC Hastings College of the Law. Described as having “something approaching rock-star status” by the New York Times, she has played a central role in documenting how work-family conflict affects working-class families and in reshaping the debates over women’s advancement for the past quarter-century.

About Harvard Business Review

Harvard Business Review is the leading destination for smart management thinking. Through its flagship magazine, 13 international licensed editions, books from Harvard Business Review Press, and digital content and tools published on HBR.org, Harvard Business Review provides professionals around the world with rigorous insights and best practices to lead themselves and their organizations more effectively and to make a positive impact.