The working and middle classes traded their internationalist-nationalist orientations during the twentieth century.

Evidence

While social democrats classically had an industrial working class and middle class to work with, left populists could assume neither of these two groups. Instead, the deindustrialization and ensuing crisis of civil society of the 1980s opened a void between citizens and states, while radically decoupling Western elites from their own societies. Working-class people in particular stopped voting and abandoned political parties. These groups’ respective political attitudes also shifted significantly. While an internationally oriented working class had faced a nationalist middle class throughout the twentieth century, these categories had now switched sides: the working class became tied to national welfare states, while the middle class looked for the benefits in globalization. … Hence the resort to a populist strategy from within the left: to rethink mobilization for an age of demobilization; to organize for an age of disorganization. As we shall see, the populist turn was part of a crisis of social democracy itself—an attempt to replace social democracy rather than abolish it. — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 23

Categorization

• XREF: Reverse-image of the usual narrative that globalization made the educated middle classes cosmopolitan; here the middle class is cast as the globalization beneficiary and the working class as welfare-state nationalist. — connects to: The working and middle classes swapped sides on globalization and nationalism — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment: The Left After the…, 23; English nationalism displaced international class solidarity among workers after 1850. — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 265; Racially conscious working-class nationalism emerged from English class formation — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 234 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The working and middle classes swapped sides on globalization and nationalism #corroborates (0.95) — Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger, The Populist Moment, 23
• Nationalism proved stronger than the class struggle in the modern world #expands (0.80) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 362
• English nationalism displaced international class solidarity among workers after 1850. #qualifies (0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 265
• Racially conscious working-class nationalism emerged from English class formation #qualifies (0.75) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 234