The Effects of Social Classes and the Impact of their Role in Modern Industries
By Eryn Swann
Graphic by Michelle Marshall
Social classes play an important role in society based on their involvement in different types of industries. Similar to life, industries have evolved in our society resulting in the modern segmentation across primary industries, secondary industries and tertiary industries. Whilst no industry is the exclusive domain of any social class, significant proportions of particular social classes generally find themselves linked to a particular industry. For example, whilst there are finance experts and geologists in the mining sector the predominant workforce will be from a blue collar background.
The working class is considered responsible for their contribution to society via primary industries such as agriculture, resources and mining. These industries service primary societal needs by providing food and livestock and producing minerals and energy resources that may contribute to a country’s overall GDP and hence, economic wealth. Society’s secondary industries, in turn, typically include infrastructure, transport and manufacturing from the raw materials that are mined or sourced from primary industries. Primary industries are essential to a society’s success. Finally, tertiary industries such as services, in particular technology and financial services, form a central component of sophisticated economies and are often evidenced by employees with advanced intellectual skills supported by entrepreneurs and investors.
Primary, secondary, and tertiary industries all work to form the framework of a healthy society. But some proportions of the younger generation, particularly those with a potentially limited understanding of their criticisms and demands of government, do not yet fully comprehend their own disconnect with a deeper understanding of the frameworks of society. One example being that some younger people have an overly simplistic view that energy mines should simply be shut down due to the impact they have on the climate. Further complicating the matter may be that some mines, particularly in developing nations, have poor track records in working and pay conditions. Thus a more sophisticated argument should be focused on how mining should be regulated to provide appropriate workers rights and limit its impact on the climate. This would of course also have to cater for the job security fears of existing mining industry workers who may not have alternative industry skills. This is also easier said than done, but if young people want to be taken seriously by industry and government stakeholders they will have to spend the time to develop more sophisticated complex arguments and alternative solutions.
It is important to remember that transforming economies will need to happen gradually and not overnight due to the lack or limited number of alternative jobs that are seen as more sustainable from polluting industries. Unfortunately, not all staff in primary industries are retrainable to alternative industries and therefore, not all of those jobs are immediately expendable. For example, the discussion surrounding the impact of cattle on the environment and the large amount of land to farm as well as methane by-products from cattle usually results in the response from most activists that a significant amount of the population should eat less meat. However, by consuming less meat, farmers would need to grow more crops for the population, and planting more crops may result in increased deforestation which will then be protested by these same activists. It is also unrealistic to demand that large quantities of the population must or should abstain from the consumption of meat. Meat consumption may have a cultural significance for many people across the globe. For some individuals health or dietary issues may require the consumption of meat as an affordable high protein diet.
Therefore, until population growth is curbed, due to the high quantity of food needed, it is important to strike a balance between the realistic introduction of available potential solutions and the current situation at hand. Society is unfortunately very complex and because there is such high complexity of these problems, there are no easy solutions. Therefore, the transformation to improve society will need to be gradual. By doing so, it will also allow for the time for newer and more disruptive technologies to grow and establish themselves in the background to later accelerate the transformation of society. This is why people have to be careful not to follow populist theory that sounds, on the face of it, morally correct but is not holistically or immediately implementable without causing significant damage to either the environment or potentially the economy. This is why not all consequences have been entirely thought through without consideration and analysis of all supporting evidence and information. The current generation has to also be careful about how scientific theory is utilised to drive activism, because by only using anecdotal or insufficient scientific evidence, without relying on comprehensive research, anyone can run the risk of discrediting legitimate science. Thereby, causing that science to start being viewed, by some populations of society, as faux science.
The disruption of these primary and secondary industries can result in a domino effect that may then start disrupting different classes of society. By causing a shift in what should and should not be allowed or tolerated in certain industries, this may result in the decline of the willingness and desire of the working class to participate in their societal roles that result in the formation of the middle class. In the hypothetical event that the working class were to completely abscond their responsibilities due to fatigue or increasing uncertainty of the unrealistic constraints and demands of some middle-class youth or upper class members of society, primary industries as a whole may be greatly affected. This may then potentially result in the foundations of a healthy society becoming damaged and thus, creating instability.
The upper class has mostly benefited from the extensive creation of tertiary industries that have enabled the current expansion of the technology and financial industries. From these industries they have been fortunate enough to cultivate great personal wealth which, in turn, has given them the power to influence both working-class and middle-class industries. During the height of the pandemic, the 2020 Worldwide Economic Forum (WEF) revealed their intentions of encouraging “The Great Reset” which involves the need to abhor the capitalistic society and focus on fiscal reform. This in turn would both alter future working arrangements for both the working and middle class. This would also further encourage government subsidies for environmental causes which they claim will aid in the betterment of society’s future. What is of course not clear to most people is whether the WEF power brokers are acting in the genuine interest of society or if they are motivated by personal interests or benefits.
The Great Reset is known as a particularly divisive agenda among several different groups of people, as not all workplaces are able to make significant alterations to their workplace practices due to financial or physical capability. This was especially noticeable during a period of time that was financially challenging for most industries, particularly small businesses. The WEF also expanded upon this idea by imagining the world in 2030 in which they claim that “You will own nothing, and you’ll be happy.” While the truth of who this quote is directed at is not yet known for certain, one interpretation is that it may directly refer to the middle class, who will most likely have to endure this eventual reform, with the explicit exception of the ruling upper class. This particular agenda of the upper class may then begin the slow destruction of the already-shrinking middle class entirely.
As evident in the GME x Melvin Capital Reddit Revolution, that arose when retail investors attempted to bankrupt hedge funds, while some retail investors were fortunate enough to significantly gain from their actions, the tactic of driving down the overvalued stock price by hedge funds was in part to reduce the financial loss of their assets. An additional theory of Melvin Capital’s tactics, by some people, is the view that the upper class are deliberately seeking to control the wealth amassed by those in the middle class when they venture into the financial investment territory that is primarily dominated by those in the upper class. Currently, the gap between the middle class and the upper class appears to be increasing, particularly during the pandemic (Reeves, R & Rothwell, J 2020). This amount of growth appears to be responsible for the belief, held by some within the middle class, that those in the upper class are trying to keep those in the middle class in line by not allowing them to ever achieve wealth that either equals or exceeds their own by the same means attributed to the financial success of upper-class elites. In these analyses, the complete elimination of the middle class would result in a greater wealth disparity between the working class and the upper class and will thereby result in a wealthier upper class and a poorer working class. This extreme contrast may then be contingent to the potential and possibly even eventual downfall of the upper class. This may be due to the hypothesized surrender of responsibility to contribute to society, by the working class, in protest of these outcomes. This effect may then result in the eventual collapse of the society as a whole, and this specific damage may be so great that the society may not recover.
In these hypothetical analyses, it is important to note the consequences of every action demanded by the loudest voices, in each class, and reflect on the necessity and timeframe for these changes mainly due to their substantial cost in bringing about the potential downfall of the society itself if not given the proper care and consideration to bring about change effectively. In the event the middle class succumbs to overbearing imposed restrictions and the need for immediate and highly disruptive transformation, by some younger generations growing up in either the middle or upper class in addition to the powerful elite in the upper class, may provide the catalyst for global protest against these changes. In turn, this outcome may form the greatest expression of protest by the classes that have the potential to suffer the most, in which the means may not actually justify the ends.