Source: The Economist
The current issue of The Economist magazine has a Special Report on the middle class. It points out that, for the first time in human history, the majority of people in the world are in the middle (economic) class. That represents a level of wealth and comfort that would have been unimaginable for most people for almost all of recorded history.
In 1966 Barrington Moore, an American historian, pithily summarised decades of scholarly opinion in his formula, “no bourgeoisie, no democracy”.The focus of the Special Report is speculation on the economic impact of the growth of the middle class, and of course on the implications of the current economic crisis in a world with a majority of people in the middle class.
One section of the Special Report refers to a multinational survey o middle class attitudes supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts.
The study finds that in 13 middle-income nations from regions around the globe, people tend to hold different opinions about democracy and social issues once they reach a certain level of wealth. Compared with poorer people in emerging countries, members of the middle class assign more importance to democratic institutions and individual liberties, consider religion less central to their lives, hold more liberal social values, and express more concern about the environment.I was especially taken by this result from the Pew studies:
Nearly everywhere, wealthy people tend to be more satisfied with their lives. Life satisfaction tends to be higher in wealthy countries; and in developing countries, it tends to be higher among wealthy people.4 So it is not too surprising that members of the global middle class tend to be more satisfied with their lives.Comment: So we have an economic crisis which is likely to hit the emerging middle class hard. This class now is large, and it seeks the political power to make its needs and demands felt in government. That seems likely to spell political problems for the world at large! JAD
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