Quote:Working class - these are the people whose main source of income is a salary, be they doctors, janitors or software engineers. You can own stock and get dividends from it, you can own a second or third hous that you rent out, you can own your own small business, it doesn't matter. If you can't put food on the table without a job, you're working class. Owner class - these are the big investors, big landlords, corporate CEO's and so on. Sure, some of them technically have a job (managing proprieties or running a company), but if the majority of their income (let's say 70%) comes from rents or investments or company bonuses, then they are owning class. The reason this distinction is important is because it separates people based on their interests. Workers want higher wages (so they can have more money), owners want lower wages (so then products can be made cheaper, resulting in higher profit margins), workers want lower costs of living (so their money can buy more things), owners want higher costs of living (as higher rents and product prices lead to higher profits).
By understanding this divide we can better understand our position and the position of the people opposed to us, opposed to worker's interests. The reason I'm asking you to stop thinking in terms of lower / middle / higher class is because this is a tool used by the owner class to confuse and divide us. You can have higher class working people (software engineers and doctors) and you can have middle class owning people (a landlord with only 3 houses). As a result, by seeing the world as lower / middle / higher class, you are discouraged from working together with your lower class and higher class colleagues and are y unable to see who's actually screwing you over.
It's similar to how they are trying to divide us among racial lines, or religious lines, or by age. Whites vr Mexicans, Christians vr Muslims, Straights vr LGBTQ and so on. They are trying to convince you that your interests are the same as the owner class, in order to stop you from going against them. You and Jeff Bezos are both Americans, so stop fighting among yourselfs.
You and Elon Musk are both straight men, so your interests are the same. You and Trump are both Christian, so you should support one another. It's a tool, nothing more. And with it the owning class has maintained and grew its power exponentially. So I encourage you to unite with your fellow workers and put an end to this nonsense.
The more people understand this basic distinction the better chance we have at addressing the issues that plague us. First step is identifying and acknowledging the problem.
The majority of this post must be credited to fellow Redditor u/cristiander