1. In Search of the Finnish New Middle Class.
- Author
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Roos, J. P. and Rahkonen, Keijo
- Subjects
- *
BOURGEOIS sociology , *CLASS identity , *MIDDLE class , *SOCIAL classes , *CLASS consciousness , *BOURGEOIS ideologies - Abstract
The way of life and essence of the Finnish new middle class are discussed in this article. Within a theoretical framework that one might call Bourdieuan, the analysis is based on a questionnaire by Pierre Bourdieu in his book La Distinction and an interview material consisting of life stories of Finnish new middle class people. As a preliminary conclusion, it is argued that taste is by no means as important as a criterion for the new middle class in Finland as it is in France. In the Finnish middle class emphasis is rather on subjectivity, on personal relations and their therapeutic nature, that is on the way of life in a broader sense. Also, it is argued that the so-called ambivalent type of the new middle class is something specific with regard to both class ad modernity. The problem of the new middle class is a problem of commitment: to whom ought one be loyal? One aspect of this is the phenomenon found in the typology in this article: the new middle class seems to be gliding on the one hand towards a proletarian resignation, on the other hand towards a traditional petty bourgeoisie. But what is most distinctive about the new middle class's position is its floating, obscure, transient nature.
- Published
- 1985
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