Are you part of the middle class and feel like your job doesn't really make a difference? Don't worry, you're not alone in that feeling. But here comes something that might make you think again.
We have heard that some experts believe that it is time for the middle class to reevaluate its role in society. Stina Pettersson also shares this view in her editorial June 7, 2023 "Stina Pettersson
Clear signs of functional stupidity”. According to Professor Mats Alvesson, who is an expert in organizational theory, a real food for thought may be in order. He believes that the middle class suffers from what he calls "functional stupidity". It is about the middle class not daring to question their own jobs and their real purpose. Even the left-wing thinker David Graeber questions in his book "Bullshit Jobs: A Theory" whether we need civil servants in the middle class.
The middle class helps against concentration of power
Indeed, the existence of the middle class is of paramount importance to maintaining a fair and equal social structure. Power must not increasingly end up with the extreme top layer within the state and capital. It is time we take a stand and recognize the value and importance that the middle class also adds.
The middle class provides the people with invaluable knowledge and skills in a variety of fields. Through their professions and careers, graduates contribute to society in various ways. But the middle class needs to reform more. The officials must work significantly more based on social and green factors, as well as respect the individual's right to freedom. We cannot allow the work of the working and middle class to benefit only the extreme elite, because that would undermine our democracy and equality.
Stina Pettersson says that the middle class is no longer needed, that their jobs are meaningless in today's society. But it is a dangerous line of reasoning that can lead to low- and middle-income earners largely being relegated to becoming proletarians, totally subjugated to the power games of big capital. We cannot allow that to happen. Society needs the presence and influence of the middle class so that the grass roots do not just become playthings in the hands of a power elite.
Criticism of the middle class comes at the same time as risky technology
Technological advances such as AI and robotics threaten to replace many middle-class jobs. But the people must not be passive spectators and leave all decisions to the very top layer. The middle class has an important role to play in humanizing and controlling the top echelons of power.
Society needs a variety of academic professions. Teachers and researchers who convey knowledge and drive development forward. Nurses, teachers, biologists, chemists, engineers and a host of others are also extremely important. Communicators are critical to managing the digital era effectively. We also need those who organize work in an efficient way, while demanding that working conditions are humane for everyone.
Reform the middle class
At the same time, the middle class itself must undergo change. The civil servants need more of a source-critical holistic view and general education in order to understand and act based on the ecological and biological needs of society, peoples and the world. The middle class must not get stuck in the jungle of specialization and lose sight of the whole.
But let's not turn a blind eye to the real threat to equality. The problem is not the middle class. We should direct our criticism of power towards the very top layer within the state and capital, where the real concentration of power is. It is the profit demands of the 1% that cause it. Not the middle class. Workers and the middle class must not allow themselves to be played off against each other. We all deserve good working conditions and a fair distribution of power and resources.
Does society want more people to opt out of the career? then we get to give everyone, especially the most powerless professions, better and more equal conditions, wages and meaning. However, it is naive and dangerous to think that we do not need a middle class. Then we are about to export many industrial jobs to developing countries. What jobs will there be left if the white-collar positions are also eliminated?
So let's unite and fight to preserve the importance and rights of the working and middle class. Together we have the power to influence and change. The grassroots should not be spectators in their own society, but advance and demand a fair and balanced world for all of us. Workers and white-collar workers are the cornerstones that hold society together.
Other posts:
Swedish wages are 30 percent too low – The ironclad wage law delivers
Freedom, equality and good jobs for all are needed if the red-greens are to regain power
But what exactly is the middle class?
Katalys report no 59 The class structure in Sweden calculates as follows:
Socio-economic classes Percent
Unskilled workers 19,8
Skilled workers 17,5
Lower officials 12
Total Working class 49,3
Mid-level officials 23,2
Senior officials 17,9
Entrepreneur 9,6
A total of 100
Which of these groups counts as "middle class" in your text?
The most reasonable answer is middle officials - but they have the problem of representing the authorities in front of the workers, i.e. sit a couple of notches up in a hierarchy. Which makes them a bit difficult to handle. They have to choose who they want to stand in solidarity with. Up or down.
Certainly it may be wise to have a policy towards them.
As against others. The group of entrepreneurs includes both small farmers and the Rausing family. Which hardly have the same interests in general.
Even capitalists on the large scale have different interests. Those who have their identity in production hardly have the same interests as those who live by milking resources out of the economic cycle via fund management or property ownership. So even towards them you should have a flexible policy, I think.
Your division of the social groups is perfectly fine. I mean that you don't build a sustainable society by waging war against professional groups that got their jobs through higher education.
Nor does it help the working class in the long run to wage war against groups with higher education. Then there is no opportunity for low-educated people to improve their social position. Then we all become slaves to the State and Capital.
I also don't think there is any point in waging war against professional groups. You have to pick your battles, so you have a chance to win.
However, I believe (who myself belong to the group "professionally trained workers" alternatively "lower civil servants") that you have to behave in a way that does not just mean uncritical acceptance.
It is e.g. absolutely necessary that the workers have an opportunity to speak for themselves. It is not possible to hand over to a layer of ombudsmen and political scientists to make the cause of the working class. It gets distorted even when they want to. You probably then have to wage a small war against them to get them to hand over. Much like August Palm did against the "worker-friendly liberals" of his time, i.e. against the charitable bourgeoisie.
Of course, a balance of power is needed between civil servants and workers, but for many it makes more sense to become a civil servant than a fitter or restaurant worker. We should not celebrate when white-collar jobs disappear and are replaced by low-wage jobs. Then of course the workers must criticize how power is exercised and workers should also have influence.
We must have as many officials and workers as are needed and everyone is obliged to look for work when they are unemployed. But we shouldn't be happy if white-collar positions decrease and low-wage jobs increase in number.