Work and oppression<\/strong><\/p>\nSpringsteen is not alone as a musician who champions the working class. Others include John Mellencamp, Bob Seger, and J. Giles. But his popularity and staying power in the American psyche set him apart, Zirakzadeh says.<\/p>\n
The heroes in his songs often face unemployment or are engaged in degrading, mechanized work. Their stories echo that of Springsteen\u2019s father, who worked as a jail guard, cab driver, and assembly-line worker in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
Ironically, Springsteen has said that he doesn\u2019t care for his nickname, \u201cThe Boss,\u201d because he hates bosses.<\/p>\n
The singer often blames technological innovation and large corporations for the disappearance of satisfying work and the loss of skilled manufacturing jobs, Zirakzadeh says. \u201cHe thinks the shortages of occupations in this country should be taken as a yardstick of the country\u2019s moral decline.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inability to find work is the theme of several of Springsteen\u2019s albums, and in many songs, laborers on modern worksites trudge around like lifeless zombies. At night, they fantasize about breaking free from life\u2019s drudgery.<\/p>\n
That pain, says Zirakzadeh, is where Springsteen looks for solutions.<\/p>\n
Freedom personified<\/strong><\/p>\nTo attend a Bruce Springsteen concert is a full-throttle rite of passage: the three-hour spectacles are part baptism, part protest, and part dance party.<\/p>\n
\u201cThousands of strangers scream in unison that America comprises a series of \u2018badlands\u2019 that need to be resisted, and declare that they are \u2018tramps\u2019 who will \u2018never surrender,\u2019\u201d notes Zirakzadeh.<\/p>\n
In his songs, Springsteen\u2019s characters are often tempted toward violence to release their frustrations, but ultimately turn to each other. Many of his most popular songs, such as \u201cTenth Avenue Freeze-out\u201d and \u201cDancing in the Dark,\u201d portray working-class people letting loose in pubs, dance clubs, and block parties. The singer\u2019s notion of freedom, says Zirakzadeh, emphasizes individuals\u2019 rights to their own decisions about how to move, look, and behave.<\/p>\n
He often looks to these communities, to grassroots efforts and non-governmental organizations, to band together and work to solve societal problems, such as the specter of large corporations moving in on hometown values.<\/p>\n
Springsteen also reveres monogamy. His love songs offer tender narratives of a devoted breadwinner, often a man; and a patient caregiver, often a woman. Together, says Zirakzadeh, the lovers create an autonomous home that can hold at bay the harshness of the broader world.<\/p>\n
Adverse conditions, such as the economy and unemployment, threaten to impede and crush love in many of his songs. That\u2019s where Springsteen sees a responsibility for the federal government: the protection of people\u2019s right to love.<\/p>\n
Left or Right?<\/strong><\/p>\nZirakzedeh notes that Springsteen has yet to endorse a political candidate in this year\u2019s Presidential campaign. He says the singer\u2019s political outlook can\u2019t be defined in terms of liberal or conservative, but instead eschews modern politics altogether, holding that policies should be made by the people directly affected, rather than by elected professionals.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the most part, Springsteen thinks placing one\u2019s trust in elected politicians is foolish,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
In the singer\u2019s ideal America, people are kind, active, and strong-willed; they think independently, yet are willing to help fellow human beings; and they spontaneously work together to ward off threats. Small businesses and farms would dot Springsteen\u2019s country, and mechanized tools would take a backseat to pride in one\u2019s craft.<\/p>\n
Among this election cycle\u2019s presidential hopefuls, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders\u2019 proposals aligned most closely with Springsteen\u2019s ideals. But no possible candidate, he says, would have scaled back the government enough for the singer\u2019s tastes.<\/p>\n
\u201cPart of the beauty of Springsteen\u2019s music is that he urges us to pursue higher goals beyond amassing money and becoming bosses,\u201d says Zirakzadeh. \u201cHe sees a local texture to society. We aren\u2019t just a bunch of self-seeking individuals. We are also embedded in and enhanced by our families, neighborhoods, and local communities, and they need to be protected.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bruce Springsteen\u2019s portraits of America have electrified audiences for 40 years. A UConn political scientist asks: What exactly are the The Boss’s politics?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":113231,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2226,2225],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[1860],"class_list":["post-113768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clas","category-uconn-storrs"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 00:45:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113768"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":113862,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113768\/revisions\/113862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/113231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113768"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=113768"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=113768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}