Bungacast /512/ Reading Club: Middle-Class Dreams & Nightmares
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Sep 26, 2025 The discussion dives into Göran Therborn's analysis of the world's middle classes, questioning the sustainability of middle-class dreams in a changing economic landscape. Is being middle-class defined by consumption rather than income? The hosts explore shifting fears of economic stagnation and the evolving role of political populism among middle-class communities. They also debate the impact of automation on white-collar jobs and whether the professional managerial class will define the 21st century.
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Middle Class As Central Discursive Category
- The middle class gained discursive centrality in the early 21st century similar to the working class a century earlier.
- Therborn frames the Reading Club's focus on the middle as reflecting that shift in public and academic attention.
Use The Reading Club's Archive Deliberately
- Revisit past Reading Club episodes to understand recurring class themes and arguments.
- Use Therborn's panoramic approach to connect historical, geographic, and sociological dimensions.
Reproducing Power Versus Reproducing Hegemony
- Ruling-class reproduction relies on state institutions, ideology, and leadership generation rather than overt direct rule.
- Lee Jones suggests the bourgeoisie reproduces itself but its cultural hegemony is weakening after outsourcing to the PMC.
