Marketers, economists, sociologists and politicians are obsessed with understanding what the middle class in our society wants. Yet few have a clear definition of what it means to be middle class today. Some of our politicians have made it their mission in life to ‘create a new middle class’.
Others have discarded the term and now prefer to appeal to the ‘hard-working families’ as it becomes obvious that the hard-core of our society is not immune to economic recessions and is not prepared to see their quality of life eroded by being politically passive. Many middle-class families are experiencing angst not knowing whether their jobs are today – and will be tomorrow – secure. They have found a new weapon in their armoury to take control of their future: hitting out at traditional politicians with their votes in elections.
Middle class is a slippery term. Is it mainly a question of earning a middle income? Or does it include a collection of family and cultural values that include a commitment to good quality education, parental skills, job sector, and lifestyle choices?
One thing is sure: politicians have been trying to understand why middle-class families seem to prefer to abandon traditional politics and vote for mavericks even if they know they have no serious alternatives that can mitigate the massive effects of massive changes that are brought about by advances in technology, immigration, and globalisation.
According to David Kynaston, author of Modernity Britain, after World War II, the middle class grew steadily: “The fault lines were pretty clear-cut between workers in heavy industry and employees in offices. A clerk might earn less than a skilled worker. But he would cling on to his middle class status.”
The big change in social status was ushered in the 1980s when services overtook heavy industry as the main economic activity in countries like Britain and most EU member states. This was the time when the seed of globalisation was sown and millions of Western economy workers lost their jobs as manufacturing and heavy industry shifted to developing countries, especially in the Far East.
Many jobs would be hollowed out as huge technological advances meant roles could be automated instead
When the old certainties of what it meant to be middle class were shaken by globalisation, rapid advances in technology and, more recently, immigration, many ‘hard-working families’ found that their jobs were no longer secure and that politicians could not do much to restore their quality of life. For many, the term middle class has come to mean ‘the new poor’ or, as Ed Miliband labelled them, ‘the squeezed middle’.
A more suitable description of what constitutes the middle class in Western economies today is “people who are not on benefits but are by no means wealthy”. It is interesting how most people resent being labelled as ‘working class’ or even ‘middle class’ because of pejorative cultural connotations probably ingrained in people’s minds as a result of popular TV culture.
Those of us of a certain age remember characters like Margot Leadbetter in The Good Life and later Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances and would most likely not want to be associated with the culture of snobbery that they projected so humorously. Similarly, I have still to meet someone whose ambition in life is to model his lifestyle on that of Del Boy of Only Fools and Horses fame.
Being middle class today is probably more associated with accumulating assets for the future as more and more people fear for the quality of their life when they retire. Most young families today are made up of parents who both work so that they can afford an annual holiday overseas, provide their children with a good education, spend money on leisure activities and save something for a rainy day.
But these modest aspirations are seriously under threat for many families as economists and sociologists warn that another major change is about to affect the lives of millions of people. Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, recently warned that “many jobs would be hollowed out as huge technological advances meant roles could be automated instead”. He identified low-paid administrative, clerical and production staff as being the most likely occupations to suffer from these changes brought about by advances in technology.
At least it seems that some jobs will be more in demand.
Hairdressers, carers and nannies are among the lower earners who will be spared the angst of being middle class, according to Bank of England economist Andy Haldane.
johncassarwhite@yahoo.com