"American Dream" Awakens (Part I)
——The disappearance of the contemporary "middle class" in Europe and the United States
At the end of the 19th century, with the rise of the American economy, a large number of European immigrants went to the United States to "pan for gold", and the term "American dream" was born.
The "American Dream" is used to describe a lifestyle that dreams of coming to the United States or living in the United States and earning wealth through hard work.
After the end of World War II, because the United States once adopted the "gold standard" system to ensure that the dollar was linked to gold, the world economy's dependence on the United States entered a new height.
During this period, the "American dream" meant that the entire capitalist world pinned its hopes on economic recovery under the leadership of the United States, which had a thriving meaning.
However, since the 70s of the 20th century, in the informationized restructuring of labor relations in developed capitalist society, the occupational composition of wage labor and employment has undergone a white-collar process.
Employment of wage labor has changed from mainly blue-collar workers to white-collar workers.
The decline of the blue-collar class and the white-collarization of wage labor have been cited by futurists and postmodern theorists as evidence of the disappearance or demise of the working class.
Mainstream economists with conservative economic ideas began to explain the theory of the middle class, arguing that the rise of the white-collar class, which was dominated by non-manual labor, meant the failure of the "class theory" in Marne's economic thought.
But in practical terms, contrary to what conservatism expects, the evolution of class relations in developed countries since the 70s of the 20th century is a process in which the proletarian character of the middle class, most of which is the working class, becomes more and more pronounced.
The dream of an upwardly mobile middle class, or, in the case of the United States, the "American dream" is gradually shattered.
In Western academia, from the analysis of political science class attributes, the old middle class refers to small business owners, craftsmen, freelancers, small traders and small farmers, also known as the "independent middle class".
On the other hand, the new middle class refers to the technical intellectuals who developed in the course of the technological revolution, and a large proportion of them are white-collar employees, that is, employees and civil servants, known as the "hired middle class" or "urban new middle class".
If in the twentieth century "the old middle class of small business owners and others in advanced capitalist countries experienced economic and political marginalization, the formation of a new middle class brought new complexity to the class map of society".
In the history of category analysis of Marne economic theory, Blafman was one of the first scholars to propose and analyze the new middle class.
Bleifman compares the new middle class that emerged in the stage of monopoly capitalism with the old petty-bourgeois middle class before monopoly capitalism, and argues that neither is in line with the social polarity of labor and capital.
The difference is that the old middle class is outside the polar class structure – it has neither capitalist nor worker attributes; And the new middle class is in the middle not because it is outside the process of capital accumulation.
Rather, because it acquires its own character in the process in two ways - it not only enjoys the privileges and rewards of a small part of capital, but also bears the hallmarks of proletarian status.
The old middle class, such as small proprietors in agriculture, commerce, and services, as well as various occupations and crafts, which made up half or more of the population before the stage of capitalist monopoly, have now largely disappeared.
However, the new middle class includes engineering technicians, subordinate supervisory managers, workers in purchasing and marketing, financial and organizational management institutions, and a large number of professionals who are not part of capitalist industry and work in medical schools, colleges and government departments.
In 1974, this labor force probably accounted for more than 15 percent of all U.S. jobs, less than 20 percent.
In Bleifman's view, there is no doubt that most members of this new middle class are increasingly characteristic of the working class.
Since the 80s of the 20th century, the development momentum of the new middle class in developed countries has weakened, and the trend of polarization has intensified significantly. In terms of the so-called changes in the middle class, there is a stark contrast between the pre-70s and post-70s of the 20th century.
For example, in the United States, from the 50s to the 70s of the 20th century, the economy prospered and stabilized, the living standards and social status of the middle class increased significantly, the population increased, and the so-called "American dream" took root in people's minds.
However, since the 70s of the 20th century, the economic situation and status of the middle class have tended to decline, and "wage depreciation and unemployment have slowly climbed the social ladder."
From poor laborers to blue-collar factory workers to managing white-collar workers," the traditional "American dream" is shattered when viewed from a broad social sample.
In reality, polarization is intensifying, and a "new class society" is "taking shape" – a diamond-shaped class structure consisting of a privileged class of 20% of the population and a new working class of 80% of the population.
In the process, the situation of the working masses tends to deteriorate, as evidenced by the decline in real wages, the loss of job security and the increase in working hours.
Correspondingly, the mainstream European and American countries have fallen into a long-term standstill after the new millennium, and the deterioration of social life and community security has announced the inevitable decline of the Western system itself that flaunts the "American dream" model.
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