The term middle-class values is used by various writers and
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
s to include such qualities as hard work, self-discipline,
thrift,
honesty
Honesty or truthfulness is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, ...
, aspiration and ambition.
Thus, people in lower or upper classes can also possess middle-class values, they are not exclusive to people who are actually
middle-class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...
. Contemporary politicians in Western countries frequently refer to such values, and to the middle-class families that uphold them, as worthy of political support.
Contrasts
Middle-class values can be contrasted with other values that may be held by other people belonging to other classes and historical time periods, such as:
*
Tribal thinking or
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...
nishness
* Contentment with a low material
standard of living
Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...
* Valorisation of strength and petty
violence
Violence is the use of physical force so as to injure, abuse, damage, or destroy. Other definitions are also used, such as the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or Power (social and p ...
*
Anti-intellectualism
Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, and science as impractical, politically mo ...
*
Criminality
* A life of easy leisure and being served by servants (a value often exhibited by the
upper classes), as opposed to hard work
*
Bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
values - rejecting middle class materialism, embracing artistic creation
*
Religious fundamentalism (various types) - rejecting earthly goals (illusions) and/or disdaining middle class empiricism and material desires
*
Contrarian
A contrarian is a person who holds a contrary position, especially a position against the majority.
Investing
A contrarian investing style is based on identifying, and speculating against, movements in stock prices that reflect changes in th ...
ism - rejecting various aspects of middle class life and values
*
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.
...
- aiming through political or cultural means to overturn or destroy the existing societal order, replacing it with a different system
*
Utopia
A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...
nism - striving to design and/or create a perfect or ideal society (in practice, as a small community within a larger state)
*
Absurdism - rejecting given values systems and seeking to understand the true value and meaning of life, while accepting that such understanding is impossible
History
Spread of middle-class values
British economic historian
Gregory Clark has controversially claimed, in his book ''
A Farewell to Alms
''A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World'' is a 2007 book about economic history by Gregory Clark. It is published by Princeton University Press.
The book's title is a pun on Ernest Hemingway's novel, '' A Farewell to Arms''.
...
'', on the basis of extensive research, that Britain may have been where the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
began because the British people had a head start in "evolving"through a combination of cultural and possibly even genetic changesa
critical mass
In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fissi ...
of people with middle-class values.
Others have claimed, by contrast, that the "natural inclination" of workers at the early stages of the Industrial Revolution was to work as few hours as needed to earn a subsistence living, and workers had to be
brainwashed
Brainwashed may refer to:
*Brainwashing, to affect a person's mind by using extreme mental pressure or any other mind-affecting process
Music Albums
* Brainwashed (George Harrison album), ''Brainwashed'' (George Harrison album), 2002, or the ...
into working long hours. Some have claimed that
compulsory education
Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all people and is imposed by the government. This education may take place at a registered school or at other places.
Compulsory school attendance or compulsory schooling ...
and
advertising
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
played a part in this brainwashing - compulsory education instilling obedience and hard work at an early age, and advertising instilling desire for consumer goods that had to be paid for with more work.
In
A Farewell to Alms
''A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World'' is a 2007 book about economic history by Gregory Clark. It is published by Princeton University Press.
The book's title is a pun on Ernest Hemingway's novel, '' A Farewell to Arms''.
...
Clark disputes such explanations, citing persistent large differences in labour productivity in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and Britain, even when British managers and identical machines to those used in Britain were used, and even though both countries have compulsory education for children.
Mechanism of transmission
Since the middle class is the dominant class in western modernity (specifically after the industrial revolution), middle-class values hold cultural capital and hegemony over western modernial cultures. Middle class values are thus imposed upon an entire population through economic and cultural means. That is, those living within the bounds of western modernity must conform to middle-class expectations in order to gain access to wealth or cultural legibility. Middle-class values, or the lack thereof, are transmitted from parents to children, by schools, by employers, and by
mainstream media
In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
, such as the quintessentially middle-class newspaper ''
The Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
''.
According to Gregory Clark, it is possible that there is also a substantial genetic component, and this is why
social mobility
Social mobility is the movement of individuals, families, households or other categories of people within or between social strata in a society. It is a change in social status relative to one's current social location within a given society ...
is so low across societies and across history, as he establishes in his book
The Son Also Rises.
Criticism
See also
*
Protestant work ethic
The Protestant work ethic, also known as the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic, is a work ethic concept in theology, sociology, economics and history which emphasizes that diligence, discipline, and frugality are a result of a person ...
*
Achievement ideology
Achievement Ideology is the belief that one reaches a socially perceived definition of success through hard work and education. In this view, factors such as gender, race/ethnicity, economic background, social networks, or neighborhoods/geography ...
*
Laziness
References
{{reflist
* Clark, Gregory. ''
A Farewell to Alms
''A Farewell to Alms: A Brief Economic History of the World'' is a 2007 book about economic history by Gregory Clark. It is published by Princeton University Press.
The book's title is a pun on Ernest Hemingway's novel, '' A Farewell to Arms''.
...
''. Princeton University Press (2007)
* Clark, Gregory. ''
The Son Also Rises'', Princeton University Press (2014)
Value (ethics)