A middle-class state of mind

Everyone agrees that a strong middle class is important. But being middle class is about more than economics.

|
ANN HERMES/STAFF/FILE
STYLISTS AND PATRONS AT THE LOFT SPA IN BOZEMAN, MONT.

Literature and cinema have always loved stories about Cinderellas, princes and paupers, rags-to-riches journeys, and the sharp contrast between posh upstairs and salt-of-the-earth downstairs. To be in the middle – fairly well educated, gainfully employed, modest, generally satisfied with life – is not often the stuff of high drama. But the middle class is the bedrock of democracy. It is where work gets done, families thrive, and a society’s values are established. People from Benjamin Franklin to the current candidates running for president have lauded the middle class as the quintessence of the American dream.

As Mark Trumbull shows in a Monitor cover story (click here), the middle class in the United States isn’t the confident place it once seemed to be. Many who consider themselves part of it feel squeezed and uncertain. They might have the trappings of material culture – smartphones, big-screen TVs, SUVs, and an astounding variety of reasonably priced choices at shops and supermarkets – but they worry about job security, debt, and finances. Perhaps that is because of the trauma they went through during the Great Recession, as the Great Depression traumatized their parents and grandparents.

Of course, the “they” in the middle class is hard to define. Middle-classness is not uniform. A middle-class income in New York City gives you a very different lifestyle than it does in Pocahontas, Ark. Family structure makes a difference, too. A single mom with a middle-class income has to pedal much faster than does a middle-class empty nester. And, of course, every individual’s experience differs. A teacher, a book, an unexpected opportunity, an inner drive – all can alter a life’s trajectory.

People are always moving up and down the ladder. Class lines are porous. Middle class is really more of a state of mind than an economic address. Yes, income and living standards are important. Economic security is not trivial to struggling families and individuals. But being middle class means being solid, hardworking, and community oriented. Walt Whitman sang the praises of a life where all people “have enough – a modest living – and no man is made possessor beyond the sane and beautiful necessities....” 

One of the best stories of middle-class success is David McCullough’s excellent book “The Wright Brothers.” Orville and Wilbur came from modest means. Their father, an itinerant minister, did not bring in much income but kept the family fed, stocked the house with books, and encouraged moral behavior. “All the money anyone needs is just enough to prevent one from being a burden on others,” he often said. Which is not an endorsement of complacency or a knock at ambition. It is a recognition of what can be achieved when the minimal standards of living are met and excess is avoided. 

The Wright brothers had only high school educations but were intelligent, practical, and resourceful. They were unfazed by either early skepticism or later adulation. Balanced and productive, solidly middle class from a middle-sized city in middle America, they did the work, learned to fly, and changed the world.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to A middle-class state of mind
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/From-the-Editors/2015/1102/A-middle-class-state-of-mind
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe