Five Things We Learned from Farah Stockman 

Thank you for joining us for last night’s INconversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Farah Stockman at the Carmel Clay Public Library. We’re grateful to Farah, Carmel City Councilor Jeff Worrell, Aaron and Katy Renn, and the library for making the night possible.  

During the conversation, Farah shared some of her experiences gathering information about the closing of Indianapolis’ Rexnord manufacturing plant for her 2021 book, American Made: What happens to people when their work disappears.  

Before she got to know Indianapolis factory worker Shannon Mulcahy, she saw the world mostly from the perspective of people like herself: College-educated, well-traveled and accustomed to abundant opportunities to experience the world around them. But when Stockman’s New York Times editors sent her to Indianapolis to interview factory workers who would lose their livelihoods as jobs were sent to Mexico and Texas, Shannon, along with John and Wally, introduced Farah to lives much different from her own.  

As we like to do at Indiana Humanities, we’ve recapped the conversation. Here are some moments that stood out to us: 

1. Work brings dignity. Work is important to the working class. Jobs are identities, especially for families with multiple generations working in a factory plant. The plant provided a second family, a bowling team, healthcare benefits, and more. When plants closed, workers not only lost their jobs but their identities. A UK study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic found that the mental health of people whose work hours were cut fared better than those who lost their jobs. Stockman reported that the researcher told her even one hour a week of paid work provides mental health benefits. 

2. Winners and losers. Working at a factory was a status symbol. It came with benefits like good pay and a 401(k). When Rexnord workers complained about the plant closing, they didn’t get a lot of sympathy from those who earned less working elsewhere. They’d already been the winners, having reaped the benefits of higher pay and better benefits. Now it was their turn to feel the pain. 

3. Decisionmakers are disconnected from most Americans. Two out of three Americans don’t have four-year college degrees, but few in decision-making roles reflect that reality. The choices of working-class people are guiding the nation. CEOs and policy leaders might think globalization and free trade are good for the country, but people with less education and fewer options likely won’t benefit.  

4. Empathy breeds understanding. It’s tough to have empathy for people you don’t know and whose lived experiences are different from your reality. In reporting for her book, Farah dove into the lives of Shannon, John, and Wally to learn about things like the repercussions of a decision to send their jobs elsewhere, the politics of crossing picket lines and the importance of side hustles for Black factory workers who never expected a job for life because they were used to losing out. 

5. Who’s losing jobs now? In the last few months, 25,000 federal workers, 20,000 tech workers and countless academics – 2,200 at Johns Hopkins alone – have been put out of work. In other words, the tables seem to be turning, with the more educated workers in government and academia losing jobs en masse. When Farah asked Shannon about this reversal over dinner the night before her Carmel talk, Shannon was unaware of the job cuts. She really doesn’t pay attention to the news, she said. To Farah, this suggests that, while the roles might be changing, the lack of empathy persists.