Word! The Language Column
The Myth of the Hard-Working Middle Class

Politicians like to refer to the so-called hard-working middle class when describing who their measures are intended to benefit. Who and what exactly are they talking about – and who is being left out? Daniel Stähr on a promise of salvation that is no longer being fulfilled.

By Daniel Stähr

One of the few statements that probably every political party would endorse is “We make policies for the hard-working middle class in our country”. Whether left-wing, conservative, right-wing or market liberal, all politicians like to claim that their policies benefit hard-working people. After all, no one can object to that. But on closer inspection, it quickly becomes apparent how this statement unconsciously reproduces the central mantra of capitalism.

The image of the “hard-working middle class” only works if it is implicitly contrasted with a group that does not work hard. This certainly does not refer to the infinitely wealthy, who are relatively unaffected by everyday political debates anyway due to their prosperity. Rather, the “hard-working middle class” is contrasted with the “lazy work-shy”, as the recent debate on universal basic income has once again shown in all its cruelty.

The Promise of Salvation Offered by Capitalism

I am not saying that everyone who explicitly refers to “hard-working” people automatically wants to devalue those who are dependent on state benefits. But that is precisely what makes statements like these so dangerous: they show how deeply the capitalist promise of salvation has penetrated our subconscious. In his monumental work Capital and Ideology (2020), French economist Thomas Piketty puts forward the central thesis that every system needs a justification for its inequality. In feudal times, this was the God-given inequality between the nobility, the clergy and the peasantry; in capitalism, it is the meritocracy.

And even though many people intuitively know that this promise has long since ceased to apply, the majority still behave accordingly. They study, complete training and further education – all in the hope of being rewarded by the system and having a good life.

The Middle Class – That's All of Us?

There's nothing wrong with that. But it does make it clear why talking about the “hard-working middle class” is such an effective political strategy. Most people would probably say that they work hard. But what exactly does hard work mean? All too often, the focus is on traditional wage labour. Unpaid forms of work such as raising children, caring for relatives or emotional care work are overlooked. Work that, incidentally, is mainly carried out by women.

At the same time, many people mistakenly believe that they themselves are part of the middle class. In Germany, 80 percent of the population say they belong to the middle class. Most people affected by poverty overestimate their place in the income pyramid, and most rich people underestimate it. There are two reasons for this: firstly, we tend to compare ourselves with our immediate surroundings – and because many people surround themselves with people from a similar economic class, this distorts our view of reality. We consider ourselves to be representative members of society.

On the other hand, our perception of poverty and wealth is shaped by the media, where we often see extreme forms of both. But poverty does not begin with the pensioner who has to collect bottle deposits to make ends meet. It also includes the single mother who is only one broken washing machine away from a financial crisis.

This false belief that we are all middle class makes talk of the “hard-working middle class” so effective, because many people feel it applies to them. So when politicians promise once again in the future that their policies are aimed at hard-working people, we should listen carefully to who they mean. So that we don't unconsciously fall for one of the most influential capitalist fairy tales.