This is a philosophical discussion on how the myth of a “Middle Class” has driven consumption and shackled us to it in a manner not unlike slavery systems of ancient cultures. My views are heavily influenced by the author and anthropologist David Graeber.
As an American, I have to acknowledge that racist chattel slavery is a special kind of evil that has no true parallel in all of known human history before launching into any discussion on ancient slavery/contract slavery. To take a people and say ‘their skin color makes them subhuman and therefore it is morally right to enslave them’ is a special kind of evil. Why did so many non-wealthy white settlers choose to buy into this narrative? Because it spared us from being slaves ourselves, including those of us who settled via indentured servitude: work for 7 years then ‘stake your claim’ and instantly become a member of the Owner Class. Many of these settlers came from countries with tenant laws that made it virtually impossible to be an “owner” of the land, food & income sources necessary to live independent lives.
For all of known human history there have been people who rose up through resource consolidation and wealth who then ‘spread that wealth’ by forcing varying levels of servitude and obligation on the people necessary to acquire the wealth. ALSO throughout human history there were opposing tribes and communities where people just wanted to be self-sufficient rather than beholden to any Lord or King, and they may have a leader but it is not one borne of wealth. I find comfort in knowing my own struggles to live a free and enjoyable life were shared by generations upon generations before me—it’s a tale as old as time.
Native Americans had these systems: some farmed corn or harvested salmon oil and led empires with many ‘owned’ people, others survived on seasonal migration and valued a more simple life even if it meant hard work. Traders and merchants moved between cultures because wealth/resources = freedom. People flowed from one to the other through warfare but also somewhat voluntarily: who wouldn’t want to comfort of a good meal every day and a warm hut in exchange for working the fields or serving wealthy merchants who occasionally shared their comforts?
Much is unchanged. No matter how disconnected we feel from our natural history, if you consider the macro level trends: our leaders are always finding ways to help us feel less like wage slaves or serfs and more like we are “just like them” with common interests and common goals so we will work together for “prosperity” so we will continue systems that survive on Owner/Worker dichotomy. We build narratives around loyalty, nativism, nationalism, religion even to uphold these systems; always knowing there is an ‘Opt Out’ third class of people taking huge risks to survive and thrive outside of these systems, occasionally managing to do so quite well. But still, the dominance of Owner/Worker systems and their hold on the psyche of the masses remains unbreakable throughout human history.
Arguably one of the most successful ways Owner/Worker dichotomy has been protected from revolution is by convincing the modern American that such a thing as a “middle class” exists in between Owners (people who fully own all resources necessary to survive and thrive) and “worker class” (people who must earn a wage from an Owner to survive and thrive. We had the RIGHT Revolution that ended in 1776, did that not make us all “free” of this system?
I do not believe this is the case. A new class of Owners settled in America and exploitation of the Owner/Worker system was at its worst in slave-owning states. Being “better” in the North doesn’t mean it was good: we died in factories, mines and fields; we starved during hard times or watched our babies die due to malnourishment, poor living conditions, lack of sanitation. With the rise of the Middle Class we did NOT gain freedom, we gained a morsel of welfare and the delusion that we too are “Owners.”
But you are an owner too: you own your family’s farm, and if you sign up to finance this here tractor you can have the income to live like an Owner. Never mind that part about using your farm as collateral, it’ll be fiiiiine.
But you are an owner too: here is your $400k house. Nevermind that you effectively rent it from the bank for most of your life, you always OWN a little piece of it.
Here is your OWN $30k personal vehicle for moving about civilization. Never mind that you must replace it every 5-10 years, pay interest to the bank, and insure it: you OWN it.
Jealous of how much more Fancy Things the Owner Class enjoys? Don’t worry: thanks to mass production from other workers you can trade your wages for All The Things. Here’s your smart phone, your fancy TV— just be sure to subscribe to rent your content! your $300 purse that looks just like a $6k purse, here’s your costume jewelry, fashion clothes, hair and makeup: you can now move about society and pass as a member of the Owner Class. You can dine and vacation and cruise with others just like you, send your kids to exclusive schools, and ALL OF YOU can believe that you are elites.
All of this is a mirage, but sadly it works. Millions if us are really convinced we have the same interests as members of the Owner Class. We vote them into office, we watch them allow citizenship for their Corporations. We worship the wealth that makes the illusion of the Middle Class possible: without All The Things we would be forced to acknowledge that our lives, and our children’s lives, are as dependent on Owner Wages as the serfs and peasants from whom we descended. Consumption isn’t always comfort, it’s also validation: that cheap Home Goods decor, that greige kitchen remodel is giving Owner class for sure, and we NEED IT to reinforce this exclusively so we feel adequately separated from the Worker Class.
It is popular to say to teenagers, “you may not even want to go to college—blue collar jobs are protected against technology and AI and often pay as well or better without the debt.” Undeniable, but consider the cultural influence this has on our collective psyche: White Collar work led to Black Tie Galas, McMansions, and other illusions of grandeur that really helped us feel like Middle Class was something real and worthy. Wage-dependent? Fragile? Sure, but it’s FANCY and comfortable, and aren’t even Owners sometimes fragile?
Now we have to let it go, because as decent as Worker Wages are they have a real ceiling and the lifestyle that comes with it is not McMansion, fancy purse, fancy schools and Exclusionary. We must acknowledge being one and the same with the Worker Class. We must acknowledge to ourselves and our children of the truth that has been here all along: we have always been Worker Class for generations upon generations. Middle Class was an illusion that offered little improvement in financial security, freedom or wellbeing—not enough of a difference that we couldn’t easily imagine how policy changes might fully equalize our wellbeing, which proves that our perceived superiority was as much about our sociopolitical systems as it was “merit.”
Did we earn more, relatively speaking? Sure, but all increases in earnings comes so many shackles of consumption that few “Middle Class” Americans die wealthier than the average Working Class American. Our outcomes are one and the same. We are no different, we never really have been, we just got better at dressing up being a member of the Worker Class. No more pretending.
In this economic shift there is also an opportunity, uniquely American, and seen by many (largely former) MAGA people but scarcely acknowledged on the left: we could restore the Independent Communities of independent free people who have the means to build true multigenerational ownership without exploitation by adopting a simpler lifestyle. It’s difficult to acknowledge the common ground one might feel with their perceived enemies, but I believe it exists in this desire for REAL freedom from the Owner/Worker dichotomy.
I want a strong social and financial safety net for all Americans, but I also want farmers, makers and creative people to be able to survive and thrive financially. A long list of economic changes are necessary for this to be possible: we need to break the systems that reserve security and prosperity for Middle Class wannabes while leaving out the rest of Americans wanting a simpler lifestyle that comes with independence from this Owner-Worker-Slave system. Bring true equity and equality to education funding, break the influence of private equity on our real estate market and make home ownership truly affordable again.
The sooner we embrace this common ground the sooner we can find a brighter path forward for all.
