we call them ‘protest writers’
But to say the term ‘protest writer’ is too narrow or inaccurate I wonder if there is a more encompassing term?
I don’t know for a fact that there is a more encompassing term. I think the most encompassing term is “Social Justice Writer” because, as you put it, they’re interested in the trials and tribulations of poor working people. Because Social Justice writing is the writing of people who want to change society.
Another good example is the “new atheists” or “secular humanists” (as they’re usually labelled by anti-theists) who do the same thing that radical feminists, anti-racists and anti-authoritarians do, by putting out a message, trying to change society, often by trying to get people to see a problem differently.
So if you’re interested in social change, in trying to change society, then you write social justice.
If, on the other hand, you write simply for the general public (like non-academics, journalists, and so on) then, I think ‘protest writer’ is fine.
I like how you put this “because Social Justice writing is the writing of people who want to change society.” I have thought that myself.
There’s an author who has said that writing is the act of bringing up to a reader the reader’s moral responsibility. I think that a socially justice writer has an identical perspective in that social change needs to be brought to the public.
