White-collar worker
A white-collar worker is a person who performs
Etymology
The term refers to the white dress shirts of male office workers common through most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in Western countries, as opposed to the blue overalls worn by many manual laborers.
The term "white collar" is credited to
Health effects
Less physical activity among white-collar workers has been thought to be a key factor in increased life-style related health conditions such as
Demographics
Formerly a minority in the agrarian and early industrial societies, white-collar workers have become a majority in industrialized countries due to modernization and outsourcing of manufacturing jobs.[8]
The blue-collar and white-collar descriptors as it pertains to work dress may no longer be an accurate descriptor, as office attire has broadened beyond a white shirt and tie. Employees in office environments may wear a variety of colors, may dress in business casuals or wear casual clothes altogether. In addition, the work tasks have blurred. "White-collar" employees may perform "blue-collar" tasks (or vice versa). An example would be a restaurant manager who may wear more formal clothing yet still assist with cooking food or taking customers' orders, or a construction worker who also performs desk work.
See also
Notes
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition. Electronically indexed online document. White collar, usage 1, first example.
- PMID 24280187.
- ^ Kalika, Lev. "Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS): Occupational Disease of White-Collar Workers". Opporty. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
- PMID 26683116.
- ^ PMID 30556590.
- PMID 35977732.
- S2CID 259679486. Retrieved 2023-07-10.
- ISBN 9781576076767.
Further reading
- Mills, Charles Wright. White Collar: the American Middle Classes, in series, Galaxy Book[s]. New York: Oxford University Press, 1956. N.B.: "First published [in] 1951."
External links
- The dictionary definition of white-collar at Wiktionary