blue-collar

Definition of Blue-collar

(adjective) Relating to manual work or workers; working class.

Blue-collar Pronunciation

Pronunciation Usage Guide

Syllabification: blue col·lar

Audio Pronunciation

International Phonetic Alphabet

• American English – /ˈbluˈˌkɑlər/
• British English – /ˌbluːˈkɒlə/

Usage Notes

• Plural: blue-collars
• Blue-collar is a reference to the durable blue denim shirts historically worn by manual laborers, referred to as blue-collar workers.
• The earliest listing for “blue-collar” in the Oxford English Dictionary is in 1929.
• “Blue-collar” is often used in a derogatory sense to indicate lower socioeconomic status to others. Conversely, it is used to indicate pride in ones own status.
• Blue-collar is contrasted to white-collar.
• Variant spellings:
  • blue collar
  • bluecollar
• Also called:
  • wage-earning
  • working class

Related Video

Additional Information

• Word origin of “blue-collar” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
• Lavelle, John F. 2012. Blue Collar, Theoretically: A Post-Marxist Approach to Working Class Literature. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
• Mikalachki, Alexander. 1969. Group Cohesion Reconsidered: A Study of Blue Collar Work Groups. London: School of Business Administration, University of Western Ontario.

Related Terms

• blue-collar worker
• norm
• status
• white-collar worker

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Works Consulted

Abercrombie, Nicholas, Stephen Hill, and Bryan Turner. 2006. The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology. 5th ed. London: Penguin.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Bruce, Steve, and Steven Yearley. 2006. The SAGE Dictionary of Sociology. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.

Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).

Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).

Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).

Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.

Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.

Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).

Cite the Definition of Blue-Collar

ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “blue-collar.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 23, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/blue-collar/).

APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)

blue-collar. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/blue-collar/

Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)

Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “blue-collar.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 23, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/blue-collar/.

MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)

“blue-collar.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/blue-collar/>.