Although the equalitarian forces tend to deny such labelling, for sociology's sake, I intend to use the middle-class label for the boy described in this paper. Those should remember that when such a label angers the person or makes them happy, they are kindly invited to the scientific method where no emotions are allowed that can and will shroud the facts.
Here we have a life cycle of a middle-class boy in a mixed economy. Where the government intervenes with the invisible hand and makes citizens pay for the excessive reaction, this is also an environment where no animal spirit can cause a crisis. Yes, it seems the system is in the middle.
The boy opens his eyes to a world where his parents have to work. First, he gets angry by being abandoned. Quickly their family suppresses the cries, and the first scar of being in the middle becomes visible.
Bourgoisse boy also makes the same cry for his parents' excessive work and selfishness. But, the family quickly hires maidens for the child. Such as, in their work, those parents have very well learnt the power of delegation.
The middle-class boy learns to walk. Sometimes the grandpa and grandma tend to the children because the family has no power to hire another person. Mid-boy matures with the grannies. He feels a sense of fear about whether his working family will ever love him. They don't look like they are enjoying life. They look like they are surviving!
Bourgeoise boy occasionally sees his mother or father but not mother and father. Though at those times, he feels like he is loved. But, after the quick love ritual, the parents return to their routines. Those rituals are generally depicted as luxurious by the middle class. Although they may sometimes seem like they are working, the truth is they look like they are working.
The middle-class boy starts school, where he will learn the position of the stars, mountains and then his own place. If lucky, if the family's finances were not shilled or by luck, it still gives an impression that gives a sense of security to the family; the family delivers their boy to a private school or a public one.
If he enters a public one, he may be able to see lower-class children where he may feel like a king. But after some time, he may understand that the level difference is dangerously close, so the child's pride is destroyed. Mostly, he will learn cohesion. He will repeat what others seem to like repeating.
If he enters a private one, he questions god for god's sake. He occasionally comes across bourgeoise children, where he may observe strange and unnecessary behaviours. He will try to mimic them, but the bourgeoise indirectly shows the middle-class boy his limits. At this point, the child is broken. Does he question why this world is like that? Why hadn't he been in a different condition? Why didn't he a bourgeois child?
Then the hatred starts. He either falls into the inferiority or the superiority complex. Bidirectional doom, let's say. He may aim to be an engineer, doctor or politician. Though the categories vary, the aim is to prove to that rich **** that he is stronger, better and faster. He works like a madman. He may strive for the highest grades, believing those are the milestones of his success. He sells his soul to the devil to become a bourgeoisie. In the deep, he feels alone in this rotten hell. He knows people worse and better than he puts this person into a real dilemma. This has been the way of superiority.
The other way is accepting being inferior and obeying the rules as if he provided the directions to the state. He regards and fears that this savage bourgeoisie would want to harm him. Knowing he is inferior and incapable, he sees the only way of playing dead or submitting. What a grace! They will not seek things that may promise power and influence. They stick to the average, in the deep feeling of this deep hatred toward others, directed to just themselves.
After adolescence, such dynamics reflect themselves over and over. The period and internal call for the mating process only supply more energy to above mentioned two systems. Sometimes, that energy is so much that it completely overshadows such systems. The frenzies of the youth, some call that. However, as the final transformation completes, the energy and frenzies wane. The person is again left with the original dynamics. You will always see the deep hatred toward the so-called higher rankings. But, they will do nothing practical to change the situation ironically. When you do not deny, you accept and vice versa.
The person may become a doctor. Where he secretly sought self-acceptance, he has never been able to give himself. He may even think he makes tremendous money with such a challenging job. After such false confidence, he may try to break the rules he had accepted long ago. The defiance state had started.
But he also knows, with such a mindset, he will never be able to catch a whole bourgeoisie level. He feels the ebony ceiling above him. At that point, as he ages, he is more like vinegar rather than quality wine.
Ultimately, by providing services and functioning in the economy, he could trade and exchange for his own sake; however, by doing that, he had initially embraced and fuelled the system. Ironically, they hardly question the system that made them start at this point. They believe the system is fair and reward them for their "greatness". Narcissism follows such thinking styles.
His children and marriage will be like his parents. His children will go through a very similar process. And the cycle will repeat. Such is a labour cycle that we have been and will be observing.
Without actually changing the hatred towards the top and the fear of the bottom, the middle class will be the middle class. Fear and anxiety characteristically define and paralyses them—those who break through it only by their ability to change or adapt. Even in a mixed economy, the invisible hand ascends them higher. This is a correction to the fair price of the market value.
It is our responsibility to inspect the big machine. From there, we can make improvements that will benefit the whole system. The ideas are forthcoming in Davos.
DALL · E has created the cover image.
Initially published for Polyhedron on 9/24/2022
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