HOW TO EXPLAIN MIDDLECLASS

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Back in the Middle Ages the class structure was simple and straight forward. There was the king and his aristocracy, and there were the serfs, with a fledgling middleclass in between in the form of monk (who offered assistance to the poor) or knight.
During the Renaissance, this middleclass moved into two main areas – enterprise and the intellect. Cities suddenly became predominantly merchant centres richer than the monarch, and the universities powered the new philosophies of the Enlightenment.

The middleclass was on the rise.

And what followed was the most successful revolution in history. Central to its success was the removal of power and wealth from the aristocracy. In some countries, such as France, it was a bloody affair, whilst in Britain, it was much more subtle.
First of all, non-Conformist denominations arose such as the Methodists, removing power from the established Church. Second, philanthropists and philosophers worked towards institutionalized assistance for the poor.

This second point acclimatized the poor.

This was for the institutionalization of the factory, which was soon to follow, kick-starting the Industrial Revolution, and giving the middleclass the economic power base to finally de-stabilize the aristocracy.
Once this was achieved, the revolution was completed by the institution of the middleclass jury to oust the judicial power of the aristocracy, and the growing influence of ‘commoner’ Parliamentarians, finally grasping control of the sovereign power of the State.

This darker side to the story is not often told.

But the reality is, ‘middleclass’ was a revolution aimed at moving power from the aristocracy down to the next class level. And essential to the process was the idea of the ‘individual’.
In this new revolution, anyone could grasp the individuality to better himself. And to allow it to happen, the power of tradition had to be smashed. Now, I tell this story how it is for an important reason. Because the revolution never stopped.

We live, today, in its latest manifestation.

Middleclass intellectualism went on to complete the job of smashing tradition with the rise of political correctness. And whilst the initial phase concerned philanthropists, this second stage brought about freedoms for minorities, but this does not discount the initial urge to power involved in the process.
Political correctness worked hand in hand with a new resurgence of entrepreneurialism, in that it began an assault on the remaining traditions in family and State. This removed ‘meaning’ from people’s lives, which was then provided by the entrepreneur in mass consumerism.
With allegiance to the State in decline, and mass consumerism providing a new economic power to enterprise, the multi-national corporation grew to overshadow the political State, actually funding the politicians of their choosing.
And so we arrive at today. The middleclass has expanded to include most of an advanced population. Yet in doing so, they have automatically become the subservient class to those middleclass individuals who rose high in the corporate world.
Offered supposed wealth and freedoms, this new middleclass has now become the new serf, to the new ‘aristocracy’ of the 1% mega rich. Thus, the revolution is complete, and we have arrived back where we began.
After all, that is what ‘revolution’ really means.

© Anthony North, May 2008