The Two Middle Classes
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The Two Middle Classes
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Re: The Two Middle Classes
#2[deleted]
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#3I saw the title and really wanted to like this article, but I have to say I got lost in the flowery language and don't really get the point.
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#4It describes a part of the middle class that gets its income from the market and another part that gets its income from non-market sources such as universities and the government and I found it a useful lens through which to view current events.
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#5I saw the title and really wanted to like this article, but I have to say I got lost in the flowery language and don't really get the point.
Basically, it's a long-winded way of dividing the middle class into white-collar and blue-collar and pointing out that blue-collar has taken it in the shorts and is angry.
It's not wrong. But, as always, it projects nothing actionable. What does that blue-collar cohort DO to regain economic well-being?
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#6Like the upper middle class? Novel concept.
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#7[flagged]
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#8It's an interesting and somewhat useful take on things, but like a dog wearing pants, things just don't seem to fit very well.
First, I do think it's ridiculous that he takes it as a given that Oligarchs favour climate policy. Yes, I can see how someone can point to Musk and .... I dunno Al Gore? and try to make the point, but for every Musk-a-like, there are many dozens of rich people very deeply vested in the fossil industry. I don't think any serious survey of the financial interests of the global superrich will support this view.
Second, while he alludes to the lack of homeownership amongst the young the fact that the single biggest cost-of-living expense (and it's incredible growth during the last decade) is large controlled by his embattled "yeomanry" gets ignored. It very much complicates his story to realize that his supposed victims are in fact profiting handsomely and generally cause much pain to the supposedly superior "clerisy". Just think of the typical academic renting from an older person in any large city today and you get a good sense of how wrong his story is.
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#9This distinction is pointless for the people it purports to classify. An HVAC engineer working for a university is no different than an HVAC engineer working for a market driven company. Pretending that they are in two different middle classes is bullshit.
This article is a big struggle to fit people into bad classifications and suffers readability (and a point in general) because of it. An article grouping middle class members based on toilet paper orientation would be more interesting.
Re: The Two Middle Classes
#10I think the modern term for the clerisy is the Professional Managerial Class or “PMC” — and the definition of the working class has been expanded to include “service industry” workers.