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Middle class anxiety

cantsin said:
it's not just about m/c anxiety, important to emphasise the positive side to #FBPE as well imo

Click to expand...

Fuckloads of people are, it’s just a bullshit case. We’re not leaving our friends for Mars, the prospering bit depends on your class, and freedom to roam is already somewhat limited- you still do all the passport and security shit which really doesn’t bother me anyway, but If I go to Berlin for 4 days it breaks the bank for probably 2 or 3 months. And I’m not even on min wage.
And surely even remainers know they are reaching with the WW2 stuff.
 
Good idea for a thread Proper Tidy and some good posts despite crap from the usual prats.
chilango said:
Brexit (on both sides) is just one expression of something that's going on across the world.

The recent (how recent depends on where) expansion of the m/c, and the social mobility that enabled that is grinding to a halt.

Capital no longer uses the m/c as a vehicle for social control (via liberal democracy) and us tossing them back into the proletarian abyss.

A section of society that was, briefly, included, is now facing exclusion.

Fear of losing what they had/have.
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I think the above is a major factor and worth thinking about how it connects with the below

The-Inequality-Boom-3-e1374505824597.jpg

butchersapron said:
Figures were from Doug Henwood's book After the New Economy and covered the US in 1998 (book published 2003) - i expect things have got even worse since. Basically they showed how many months each household quintile could exist at their current level of spendings and how long they could exist spending at 125% of the poverty line on savings alone (first number is current, second is at 125%)

Richest 25.5 - 81.5
Second Richest 8.2 - 18.4
Middle 2.2 - 3.4
Second Poorest 0.1 - 0.1
Poorest 0 - 0
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[Those figures are from the US but I should imagine the UK was not massively different (incidentally if anyone has any updated figures or figures for the UK I'd be grateful for a link).] While the last decade(s) has hit the upper deciles they have been somewhat insulated, I think you now have a situation where the material conditions conditions of those described in the OP are taking a noticeable hit and the same time social mobility going into reverse. That promotes an response towards social apartheid, as their material conditions narrow their social capital becomes increasingly important and so what they see as political attack of the 'deplorables', the 'rude guests', motivates them in a way state/capital attacks did not.

(Seem to be saying this all the time now but there's a definite connection with populisms here)
 
I do think brexit seems to be creating a sort of middle class revolt, though. But it might only seem to be. Because of the already mentioned shenanigans outside the parliament, media reporting and suchlike. I’m not sure. Many working class people I know personally are annoyed about it too.
 
chilango said:
Brexit (on both sides) is just one expression of something that's going on across the world.

The recent (how recent depends on where) expansion of the m/c, and the social mobility that enabled that is grinding to a halt.

Capital no longer uses the m/c as a vehicle for social control (via liberal democracy) and us tossing them back into the proletarian abyss.

A section of society that was, briefly, included, is now facing exclusion.

Fear of losing what they had/have.

That the w/c themselves have not only been under sustained attack, economically and in terms of identity/composition, amplifies this.
Click to expand...

Fear of losing what they had/have is precisely what motivates Brexit too. ‘Take back control’.

This applies right across the Leave coalition of white working class and the huge swathe of non metropolitan, shire, provincial and rural middle classes that feel so under attack from immigrants who don’t even live near them.

Essentially the heat in the system has been turned up, over a long period, but acutely in the last ten years and people fracture across the fault lines that were there already.

As for the loons on either side who want to camp outside Parliament each day, there have always been people who want to opt out for a cause. Mostly they want to opt out of the day to day and this gives permission.
 
Relevant article in todays Guardian
‘Loud, obsessive, tribal’: the radicalisation of remain
Bit too keen on sweeping statements but worth reading for the quotes
Steve Deacon ... had felt that “the world had been marching forward, and things were getting better incrementally”. But since that day, it no longer seems that way to him.
Click to expand...
“I’d been fairly apolitical throughout my life, just letting them get on with it as long as the country was run in a reasonably sensible manner,” he told me. “And it’s only the craziness of Brexit that’s made me mad.”
Click to expand...
And this is absolutely correct
confirms that remainists are continuing to do politics under the guise of putting politics aside to serve the national interest.
Click to expand...
 
redsquirrel said:
confirms that remainists are continuing to do politics under the guise of putting politics aside to serve the national interest.

And this is absolutely correct
Click to expand...

There was a serious ruck in our Branch yesterday. Briefly, a courier firm where we have been talking to, working with and recruiting drivers has announced the immediate closure of its domestic operation citing 'uncertainty around Brexit' as a factor. This is bullshit as its international operation - the one that actually trades in Europe - is unaffected by the announcement and seems to be doing fine. Its problem is that its been squeezed locally by the big players in the sector on price and speed, despite its draconian attempts to squeeze more out of the workforce.

The row, at a meeting convened to discuss tactics around redundancy pay, demands around a package to help workers find alternative employment and to get local MP's etc involved in the matter, broke out after remainers in the Branch (who've done next to fuck all in terms of our work in this company, but that's a different matter) attacked the 'Lexiteers' in our ranks and claimed that this was where the position inevitably led.

Leaving aside the embarrassing factual inaccuracies of their position, what struck me was the extent to which their remain politics have begun to infect every facet of their politics and how damaging it's becoming. An important meeting to discuss the matter at hand - how best we can defend our members - descended into an abysmal squabble with a group of trade unionists unquestioningly accepting the bosses narrative to score a political point.
 
redsquirrel said:
Relevant article in todays Guardian
‘Loud, obsessive, tribal’: the radicalisation of remain
Bit too keen on sweeping statements but worth reading for the quotes


And this is absolutely correct
Click to expand...
And this appears in the guardian - without even a hint that it is the epicentre of this remainism. A quick dig on the so-called previously unpolitical grassroots people is interesting - an assortment of cuts supporting chairs of city labour parties, lib-dem candidates and management consultants and lawyers dependent on EU work. All very unpolitical.
 
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