If You Work, You’re the Working Class—Stop Self-Identifying as Middle Class

If you have to work to survive, congratulations: you are working class.
Not “middle class.” Not “doing okay.” Not “basically fine.”

Working.
Class.

The “middle class” is not a class. It’s a branding exercise ^{brandThe term was intentionally popularized in post-WWII America to defuse worker solidarity by convincing people they were “a little more special” than labor.}. You don’t become a different class because you have an office job instead of a hammer. Your job title is not your class. Your vibes aren’t your class. Your throw pillows aren’t your class.

The question is simple:

If you stopped working, how long could you live?

If the answer is:

• weeks → working class
• months → still working class
• years → maybe not
• indefinitely → now we’re talking ruling class (or their comfortable bureaucracy pets)

Class Is Not About Income

It’s about how close you are to the fall ^{precarityThe threat of losing housing, food, or healthcare is the real class boundary.}.

The guy making $180k in tech who would be homeless in 4 months without a paycheck?
Working class.

The woman making $28k who lives with her grandma and could survive 5 years off the house being paid off?
Working class, but more protected.

The landlord living off your rent?
Not working class.

The boss who would rather fire you than take a pay cut?
Not working class.

The person who owns the thing you have to use to make money?
Not working class.

But “Middle Class” Feels Better

Of course it does.

“Middle class” says:

• I’m responsible
• I’m respectable
• I’ve made good decisions
• I am on the stairs up

Whereas “working class” in America has been smeared as:

• uneducated
• unrefined
• uncultured
• “complaining”

The shame was engineered.

Because if every person who works recognized that they are the same class, the world would end for the people who live off our work.

Why This Matters

If you think you're “middle class,” you will:

• Defend the system that is crushing you
• Blame the poor for your stress
• Aspire to join people who would rather starve you than pay you fairly
• Say nonsense like “I just wish people worked harder” while you personally are exhausted and fantasizing about living in a yurt

The “middle class” narrative is the psychological muzzle that keeps working people compliant.

Because if the entire working class realized what it is, it would:

• stop apologizing
• stop begging
• stop trying to “appeal”
• stop individualizing struggle

And it would start organizing.

Not symbolically.
Not aesthetically.
Not on TikTok for content.

Organizing like:

• rent strikes
• workplace walkouts
• mutual aid networks
• community defense
• refusing the shame

Class consciousness is not about feeling edgy.

It’s about remembering you have more in common with the barista making your latte than the CEO who claims he is “just like you.”

If you work, you’re working class. Not because I said it. Because the economy requires you be.

The moment you recognize it, the game changes.

Because suddenly you stop asking:

• How do I get ahead?

And start asking:

• Why is there a “ahead” at all?