Latest news with #JoanC.Williams
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Channel economic anger': How Democrats can reach working class voters
Author and Professor Joan C. Williams joins Morning Joe to discuss her new book 'Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class and How to Win Them Back'. The book argues that the Democratic party and the cultural left face an uphill battle to win back the many Americans who have been drawn to Trump's rightwing populism, according to The Guardian.
Korea Herald
29-05-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Has baby bust bottomed out? S. Korea sees 7% rebound in births in Q1
For the first time in years, South Korea is seeing signs of a turnaround in its record-low birth rate. According to new data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of babies born in the first quarter of 2025 rose by 7.3 percent compared to the same period last year. That makes it the highest first-quarter increase recorded since the agency began tracking the figure in 1981. From January to March, 65,022 babies were born, up from 60,571 a year earlier. March alone saw 21,041 births, a 6.8 percent increase year-on-year, reversing a decadelong trend of decline for that month. The current rebound marks nine consecutive months of rising birth numbers, beginning in July 2024. The total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, also saw a modest rise. It reached 0.82 in the first quarter of 2025, up from 0.77 the year before. Though still far below the population replacement level of 2.1, it is the highest quarterly figure recorded since early 2022. Statistics Korea clarified that although the rate matched the 0.82 seen in the first quarter of 2023, this year's figure was slightly higher when calculated to the third decimal point. The uptick in births appears closely tied to a rise in marriages. In the first quarter, 58,704 couples tied the knot, up 8.4 percent from the same period last year. March alone saw 19,181 marriages, the highest for that month since 2020. Park Hyun-jung, director of population trends at Statistics Korea, explained that about 95 percent of births in South Korea happen within marriage. 'An increase in marriages, combined with a larger population of women in their 30s and a more positive perception of having children, all appear to be contributing to the recent rebound,' she said. Still, South Korea continues to have the lowest fertility rate in the world. In 2023, it dropped to just 0.721, prompting concern and coverage across global media including BBC and CNN. In a televised documentary aired that year by Korea's public educational broadcaster EBS, American legal scholar Joan C. Williams, a professor emerita at the University of California, called the numbers 'unheard of,' adding, 'South Korea is totally doomed.'
Straits Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Has baby bust bottomed out? South Korea sees 7% rebound in births in first quarter of 2025
From January to March, 65,022 babies were born in South Korea, up from 60,571 a year earlier. PHOTO: REUTERS Has baby bust bottomed out? South Korea sees 7% rebound in births in first quarter of 2025 SEOUL - For the first time in years, South Korea is seeing signs of a turnaround in its record-low birth rate. According to new data released by Statistics Korea on May 28 , the number of babies born in the first quarter of 2025 rose by 7.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2024 . That makes it the highest first-quarter increase recorded since the agency began tracking the figure in 1981. From January to March, 65,022 babies were born, up from 60,571 a year earlier. March alone saw 21,041 births, a 6.8 per cent increase year-on-year, reversing a decade-long trend of decline for that month. The current rebound marks nine consecutive months of rising birth numbers, beginning in July 2024. The total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, also saw a modest rise. It reached 0.82 in the first quarter of 2025, up from 0.77 the year before. Though still far below the population replacement level of 2.1, it is the highest quarterly figure recorded since early 2022. Statistics Korea clarified that although the rate matched the 0.82 seen in the first quarter of 2023, this year's figure was slightly higher when calculated to the third decimal point. The uptick in births appears closely tied to a rise in marriages. In the first quarter, 58,704 couples tied the knot, up 8.4 per cent from the same period last year. March alone saw 19,181 marriages, the highest for that month since 2020. Ms Park Hyun-jung, director of population trends at Statistics Korea, explained that about 95 per cent of births in South Korea happen within marriage. 'An increase in marriages, combined with a larger population of women in their 30s and a more positive perception of having children, all appear to be contributing to the recent rebound,' she said. Still, South Korea continues to have the lowest fertility rate in the world. In 2023, it dropped to just 0.721, prompting concern and coverage across global media including BBC and CNN. In a televised documentary aired that year by Korea's public educational broadcaster EBS, American legal scholar Joan C. Williams, a professor emerita at the University of California, called the numbers 'unheard of,' adding, 'South Korea is totally doomed.' THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Korea Herald
28-05-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Has South Korea's birth rate bottomed out? Q1 sees major rebound in births
For the first time in years, South Korea is seeing signs of a turnaround in its record-low birth rate. According to new data released by Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of babies born in the first quarter of 2025 rose by 7.3 percent compared to the same period last year. That makes it the highest first-quarter increase recorded since the agency began tracking the figure in 1981. From January to March, 65,022 babies were born, up from 60,571 a year earlier. March alone saw 21,041 births, a 6.8 percent increase year-on-year, reversing a decadelong trend of decline for that month. The current rebound marks nine consecutive months of rising birth numbers, beginning in July 2024. The total fertility rate, the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime, also saw a modest rise. It reached 0.82 in the first quarter of 2025, up from 0.77 the year before. Though still far below the population replacement level of 2.1, it is the highest quarterly figure recorded since early 2022. Statistics Korea clarified that although the rate matched the 0.82 seen in the first quarter of 2023, this year's figure was slightly higher when calculated to the third decimal point. The uptick in births appears closely tied to a rise in marriages. In the first quarter, 58,704 couples tied the knot, up 8.4 percent from the same period last year. March alone saw 19,181 marriages, the highest for that month since 2020. Park Hyun-jung, director of population trends at Statistics Korea, explained that about 95 percent of births in South Korea happen within marriage. 'An increase in marriages, combined with a larger population of women in their 30s and a more positive perception of having children, all appear to be contributing to the recent rebound,' she said. Still, South Korea continues to have the lowest fertility rate in the world. In 2023, it dropped to just 0.721, prompting concern and coverage across global media including BBC and CNN. In a televised documentary aired that year by Korea's public educational broadcaster EBS, American legal scholar Joan C. Williams, a professor emerita at the University of California, called the numbers 'unheard of,' adding, 'South Korea is totally doomed.' mjh@
Gulf Today
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Gulf Today
Democrats need to speak to cultural concerns as well as economics
Joan C. Williams, Tribune News Service It's time for Democrats to end the circular firing squad between moderates and progressives. Each side blames the other for Trump's win in 2024, with each urging the other to adopt its diagnosis of what went wrong and give in to its vision of the path forward. Both sides need to change — and the key is to understand not just the economic but also the cultural dimensions of politics. Economics first. Moderates now acknowledge that neo-liberal policies like free trade during the Clinton and Obama eras opened the door to far-right populism by robbing generations of Americans of the dream — the implicit promise of doing better than their parents. Assumptions that free markets would raise all boats led Democrats to shift away from support for unions and good blue-collar jobs to a focus on global trade and cheap consumer goods. The subsequent hollowing-out of American industry led to the anger that fuels the far right. I'm not a Donald Trump fan, but I do credit him with smashing the neo-liberal consensus, shifting to an intense (though probably ineffectual) focus on bringing back good American jobs. Hats off to moderate Democrats who now join progressives in centering the way our economy is rigged in their analysis of what's wrong with America today. This new economic consensus among Democrats represents real progress. But it's not enough. Trump won two elections not just because he gave voice to economic frustrations but also because he understands the cultural dimension of contemporary politics. 'He gets us,' said a 2024 Trump voter. Like other populist figures, Trump connects culturally with the middle-status voters in routine jobs who delivered far-right victories in both Europe and the US Democrats need to rival Trump's cultural competence at connecting with the working class, which will require changes from progressives. Immigration, which has been a defining issue of every successful far-right movement offers a perfect example of the political power of class-based cultural preferences. Working-class voters respond to arguments about protecting America from foreign 'invaders' because being American is blue-collar people's strongest boast; it's the source of their status, so they like politicians who emphasize it. A 2020 poll found that being American was an important part of the identity of 79% of Americans with (at most) high school degrees, but only 43% of predominantly college-educated progressive activists. The college-educated, in contrast, prefer to stress their top-of-the-heap membership in a globalised elite. Working-class voters also define their communities geographically, where they have networks based on neighbourhood and kinship. By contrast, the 'Brahmin Left' (to use Thomas Piketty's term) see themselves as part of an international community characterized by 'feeling rules' that mandate empathy for immigrants and racial minorities but less often for class-disadvantaged citizens of their own countries. People's values reflect their lives, and their lives reflect their privilege — or lack of it. This is a message progressives, with their acuity about racial and gender privilege, should be able to hear. It could help them come to terms with an uncomfortable fact: Non-college voters of every racial group are less liberal than college grads of the same group. But moderates need to expand their cultural awareness too. When moderates like commentator Ruy Teixeira and the advocacy group Third Way argue that Democrats should throw identity politics under the bus and abandon their strong views on trans rights and climate change, they too are overlooking the cultural dimension of contemporary politics. Just as members of the Brahmin Left need to acknowledge that the logic of their lives differs from the logic of working-class lives, moderates need to acknowledge that progressives won't just give in on issues like climate change. Those issues are deeply etched into progressives' identities: The Brahmin Left is truly worried about the end of the world, even as non-elites are more concerned about the end of the month. What's the way forward? For guidance, Democrats should recall how they won an important victory: same-sex marriage. At first, leaders of the gay rights movement weren't that interested in marriage, said Matt Coles, who led the ACLU's Center for Equality. But then they listened to other LGBTQ+ people and recognized that those who wanted to get married 'were not doctors and lawyers; they were ordinary, average people.' Coles reflected: 'I looked at their faces and said to myself, 'I get it now. It's the prom and the wedding ceremony and everything rolled into one.' ' Understanding that quintessentially working-class aspiration — to enjoy the social honour and the stability offered by marriage — drove the gay equality movement to success. There's a lot of talk about Democrats' need for better messaging. That's too superficial. Coles and his gay rights colleagues did change their messaging to one that resonated with the working class — but they also changed priorities. They didn't abandon their vision of full LGBTQ+ rights, but they did shift tactics to engage a wider range of people. Democrats, that's the path forward. Moderates and progressives need to be open to changing both messaging and tactics by developing the cultural competence to connect respectfully with non-college voters.
