The Rigged System: Why the Middle Class is Struggling to Survive
The world has witnessed transitions in many areas, whether it is economic, political, or social structures of society. History has experienced the dichotomy between two segments of societies: the poor and the rich. From the agricultural era to the stage of artificial intelligence, the middle-class segments remained under stress and burden. In the agricultural era, the rise of the feudal and jagirdari systems affected the equilibrium maintained in the world by hunter-gatherers. However, when people put their heads in one place and had not walked towards new areas to hunt animals and survive, the societal system emerged and began to dominate the society. This system was created by both of the segments, but later the rich dominated the structures of societies.
The social system was established that favored privileged and harmed underprivileged. That was the time when people started to perceive race, sex, color, and ethnicity as distinct from each other. After passing the agricultural phase, the industrialization stage began to shape the structures. The rich empires began to explore new lands and resources to expand their influence. In this way, the British, French, and other European countries sail their voyages to discover new lands. The discovery of the American continent shook the world, resulting in the transatlantic slave trade. Rich British settlers brutally treated and forced Black Africans to perform labor on the new continent.
However, European colonists drove the native Indians off their ancestral land and killed them. Thousands had been prey to diseases brought up by European colonizers. Industrialization started to make a few rich and others in the meager conditions. This was the reason the Marxist and socialist reformer Karl Marx started to question the status quo shaped by the elite class where the middle class and poor are left behind. Antonio Gramsci also criticized the elite-dominated social structure, where the elites are controlling ideology, media, perceptions, and education to maintain power. Similarly, Michel Foucault stated that rich people maintain dominance through controlling discourses and defining what is normal.
The question ponders why middle-class and poor people are still suffering and why there are two defining worlds: one for elites and another for the marginalized. When I visited countries, I realized how fabricated our societies have been. On the one hand, the lifestyle of the poor is marked by poor hygiene, poor sanitation, a lack of healthcare facilities, slums, garbage, weak law and order, crimes, robberies, stalking, harassment, and other issues. On the other hand, the lavish lifestyle of rich people is maintained by infrastructure— brilliant malls, strong law and order, limited crimes, perfect houses with maintenance and roads, an amazing healthcare system, lavish cars, clean roads and colonies, electricity, and others. Examples include upscale areas like Defense Housing Societies and Bahria Town, contrasted with underprivileged regions such as Lyari, Korangi, and similar neighborhoods.
I am not solely focusing on Pakistan; many other countries also face a stark societal divide. In the United States, for instance, the poor endure marginalization, residing in slums, sleeping on the streets, and grappling with high crime rates and substance abuse.
The simple question comes to every intellectual’s mind: why are poor and middle-class people bearing the brunt of elite-dominated rules and institutional structures and avoiding resistance?
The elite controls resources and exploits the marginalized communities by making it harder for them to accumulate wealth. Similarly, they control legislation, the judiciary, politics, the economy, and the media, creating very limited chances for the poor to revolt or resist.
The justice system favors the rich because they hire seasoned and professional lawyers and appoint judges who favor their established rules and regulations. Mainstream media is owned by elites, shaping perceptions and narratives that favor the status quo. Consumption, nationalism, and entertainment often divert the working class, hindering mass resistance.
The fear of chaos or instability prevents individuals from resisting or agitating against the prevalent system. Likewise, from childhood, they are trained to not go against the elites who are the lawmakers, policymakers, and politicians owning resources and wealth in the country.
The views and opinions expressed in this article/paper are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Spine Times.
Uroosa Khan
The author is an independent researcher having keen interest in foreign policy, geopolitics, and international relations.
