Cate Blanchett, like most Australians, thinks she’s middle class. An expert on class explains why that matters
Cate Blanchett, like most Australians, thinks she’s middle class. An expert on class explains why that matters
Cate Blanchett’s claim to be ‘middle class’ isn’t unique among the wealthy, or even the 1% she’s part of. Downplaying privilege among elites contributes to the problem of wealth inequality.
Lower class: must work continuously
Middle class: has leisure time available, can take breaks from work, but must work to maintain their lifestyle
Upper class: work is optional, can maintain their lifestyle indefinitely without ever working.
Nah.
There's people pulling in over a million a year, and just blowing it all almost immediately.
They're upper class, but they can't live that life and not work.
There's people with millions in the bank, but live a middle class life and never stop grinding.
"Class" isn't just about wealth. You need a minimum amount of wealth to move up, but there's people who live a lower class life with the money to move up if they wanted, and there are people with an upper class lifestyle but it's because they make terrible financial decisions and everything is overleveraged and they have a shit ton of debt.
Lifestyle creep is a real thing.
I would argue anybody who outspends their capabilities is not upper class, because they're obligated to continue working.
Like Nicholas Cage, made more money than most people ever see in their entire lives 40 times over, but spent more than he had. And therefore must do films. His burn rate is quite high. If you were to stop working, he could not maintain his lifestyle.
Where I will agree with you, is access to the political class, and the leadership class in different societies. The UK has examples of skint toffs that have a title, but no money attached to it, but by virtue of their family they have access to the leadership and political class. Most people, can leverage that, to make enough money to support their lifestyle, but there are ones who can't.
That upper class definition needs a little adjustment:
Remove 'their lifestyle' and replace with 'a comfortable luxury-filled lifestyle'.
Compared to the circles she moves in, yeah she's middle class. When you hobnob with the richest people on earth and you're only personally worth a couple-hundred million dollars, I can see how you'd think of yourself as middle class.
I also think of myself as middle class. Just not quite as middle class as she is. 😁
Perspective is funny, huh?
As an aside to this article: I have seen some people defending Blanchett's comments, arguing that she is indeed middle class in an Australian context because of our link to the UK. They argued that in the UK, Blanchett would be considered middle class as she is neither nobility/landed gentry, nor working class, and that this same definition applies in Australia. I am curious what other Australians make of this argument.
Yeah nah.
I'll add my 2 metric cents
Ppffffffff bs
I'm not from the commonwealth but I find that argument archaic, the modern definition of middle class has nothing to do with nobility.
Modern society doesn't really have a class system. If Care Blanchett turned up to the local cafe she would join the queue. However, her wealth means her driver probably would instead.
I don't consider her .middle class any more but she herself does, probably as that's how she sees herself from growing up and her values/upbringing. Shes just fortunate enough to now be incredibly wealthy too.
It's the same way the bourgeois were "middle class" before the French revolution.
They were the 1%, just not the 0.1%
Everyone else was so much poorer, that they got lumped together whether they lived on the streets or had steady work and a home and could support a family comfortably.
So in a way, yeah, she's right.
She's the 1%, but because wealth inequality is so out of hand again, that's kind of middle class again.
When people hear "middle class" it's easy to think "average" but that's not how it's being used.
It's more about wealth distribution when used like she's using it.
When you start bringing "royalty" into it, no amount of money gets you into that demographic. You could have more money than a duke, but you're still not a duke. At least unless the king/queen starts selling titles again.
At that point it becomes less about wealth, and more about legal power.
She bougie as fuck by any definition, but there's a way to view what she said as rational, you just got to think of it like you're a world famous millionaire who still isn't at the top of the food chain. Miles ahead of any random person, but she doesn't hang out with random people, in the crowds she runs in, she's middle of the pack.
Circus staffed by grade D clowns
