Bourgeoisie and Proletariat

Had a great lunch with my client and his girlfriend on the 11th October 2007. The three of us major in Sociology. What dominated the bulk of the lunch session is the topic below:

I honestly haven't got an idea what kinds of classes, perceived to exist, are out there in the working world. "Blue collar", "White collar", "Middle", "Lower", "Upper" seems common enough. However, as far as I see it, there are only two classes in society that really matters. They are the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.

The society's view of classes appears to be as such:

• Upper / Elite
• Middle
• Lower

This is how I view it:

Bourgeoisie:

• Upper / Elite

Proletariat:

• Middle
• Lower

We will now take a look at the middle class, which forms the majority of society. It matters because the majority of the cream of the crop of our schooling system, ie University students, are fighting to enter this class. Examples of vocations or jobs in this class are Teachers, Engineers, Doctors etc. They are indeed a cut above toilet janitors, hawker centre cleaners, construction workers etc. However, I put forth to you the fact that middle class workers have to turn up for work the following day, from 8am to 5pm or 9am to 6pm or any other figures, anyway. This question follows: Have these people the autonomy or freedom of choice to stop working?

In a world where the medium of exchange for goods and services is money, I present to you the following scenario: I swim often. And I swim often enough to imagine money entering my pocket even as I am swimming or taking a dip in the pool. Dear reader, replace the activity with any that is of particular passion/ interest to you. Can you stop working? With money entering your pocket while pursuing your passion, definitely, you can stop working.

Let me now draw my line that marks the difference between the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. The line is The Freedom of Choice, in the most general sense.

The phrase "Middle class" is merely a phrase constructed, perhaps socially or politically, with the sole purpose of giving hope and pseudo-status to poly graduates, ITE graduates, any other graduates and ironically, University graduates. Why have our cream got to fight with the supposed lower classes for exactly the same status?

The Middle class is merely an illusion. I reiterate that the only two classes that matters are the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.

Bourgeoisie has freedom of choice.

Proletariat does not have freedom of choice.

Lastly, there is no point engaging in such academia work if it does not apply to you, my reader. The only way to enter the Bourgeoisie class is to have automatic-income-generating business or investments, which allows you to live the simple scenario as presented above.

I do what I do because I am able to pull my friends and family from the Proletariat into the Bourgeoisie. It is possible to become a Bourgeoisie. You can too.