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The fall of the West's new twenty-first century landless class |
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Further evidence is emerging of the growth of a new class structure within Western economic democracies.
Although traditional notions of the upper, middle of working class divide continue to have the upper hand in discussions, it is clear that they are increasingly meaningless and redundant. Twenty-first century class structures are reverting to the principle form seen in the nineteenth century. The early Victorians distinguished simply between the landed classes and the rest of society. Other social divisions were considered secondary. The principle economic class distinction between Western citizens lies in whether or not they are able to access potentially massive windfall gains from increasing urban property values.
New research published by Standard Life Bank and The Future Laboratory identifies how this new landed class is liquidising the equity it controls in property values. According to The Guardian (27 June 2004), this equity is being turned by its owners into a lucrative revenue steam.
The wealth is reported as being used to “start new businesses, live a more leisurely lifestyle or embark on new risks and adventures.
The West's new twenty-first century landless class of course has no recourse to these benefits. It would seem that a new class polarisation is developing, with increasing disparities of wealth and power.
The problem is growing. It is marked by some clear demographic features. There appears to be an increasingly strong age dimension. In conversation with Land&Liberty, the writer and campaigner George Monbiot identified the issue as “a very, very major problem of intergenerational justice.
Some social reformers argue that Western democracies require radical policy instruments that will allow more equitable sharing of rising land values, which are created by the progress of society as a whole. They say that failing to share the equity in rising property prices will increasingly crystalise this regressive new class structure - and that this would have potentially very dangerous social consequences.
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