Why the silence in 2023?

Introduction

This post starts with summer background research on the middle class, which helps evaluate the primary content with this newfound knowledge. Then, an obscure, seemingly unrelated programme from Radio 4 that, when deconstructed, goes to the heart of the present denialism by the middle class concerning housing.
The post finishes with broad conclusions leading to further research for workable solutions or just waiting for another bloody war/revolution circa 1914-1945.

Summer reading and prelim for context

Summer reading consisted of subjects as diverse as the History of the Welfare State from 1800 to the Present, Comparative Housing Policy Across Europe and North America, and various criticisms of the supposed ‘Science’ of Economics by various heavyweights in the same field and some books on Agency and Meritocracy, just to add to the mix!

What has been interesting is the various author’s interpretations of the same historical facts from different political ideologies and philosophical approaches, along with some quoting academics and the great philosophers who were locked within their lived experiences whilst other writers took a broader look from afar with present hindsight and intellectual norms to judge past reactions to circumstance and the cumulative effects of past decisions. Both are valid, though the former can seem more ideological and the latter more self-critical.

I also attended a series of lectures on the British Class System at Cambridge University, with more international post-doctoral students than you could throw a stick at; all shared their thoughts with grace and humility. Their input resulted in some fascinating insights and perceptions of the class system that I wasn’t aware of.
The weekend of lectures and discussion concluded that class is way more fluid and depends a lot on the definitions and parameters used within the time/place as a framework to make judgments. The perception of the British to class is much more nuanced than the US structure of the wealth-based class system, as proven by the comments from the US contingent in the lectures.