How COVID-19 is changing the social class structure and the recognition of “low-skilled” labour.
COVID-19 has altered many things in the UK that were thought to be steadfast. From national supply chains, to the NHS itself, the pandemic has questioned many things and demonstrated that we are not as resistant to crises as we naively thought.
However, one aspect of British society which was thought to have been laid to rest, has recently come into its own. The working classes in the past months have risen from decades of underappreciation and malnourishment to carry the nation through this pandemic, whilst the rest of society retreats. It is a stark example of how COVID-19 has altered not just the superficial social hierarchies, but also hierarchies that have been laying largely dormant since the Second World War.
The struggle between social classes in the UK is historically well documented. From the Magna Carta in 1215, the English Civil War (1642-1651), and the Chartist movement in the 19th century, to the formation of the Labour Party in 1900, and the Margaret Thatcher era (1979-1990). The conflict between the British working class and the higher echelons of society over democratic power is long established in the nation’s history. The conflict for adequate political representation and parliamentary acknowledgement as a class in of itself has always been a key theme that has run beneath many eventful moments in British history.
Today, those struggles are by no means over. The best part of a decade of austerity has seen many people slipping back into poverty more akin to the Victorian Era than the 21st Century. Indeed, the 2019 Alston report concluded that in the UK, “one-fifth of its population live in poverty” and “close to 40 per cent of children are predicted to be living in poverty by 2021”. The gap in quality of life between the working class and the middle/upper classes grows larger by the day, with the chance to reverse it becoming ever more slim. The fundamental struggle between the two sides continue to this day, and unless the entire working class can unite behind a collective set of values, the struggle will continue. However, COVID-19 has presented the most unlikely of opportunities for the working class to assert their dominance and demand a political voice.
The current pandemic may in fact be the working class’ last chance to assert themselves as an autonomous, relevant and required sector of society. COVID-19 has flipped the class coin on its head and forced “low-skilled” labour, most aligned with the working class, to the forefront of the battle against COVID-19. The working class have become fully mobilised, whilst the middle/upper classes have been told to ‘stay at home’.
Read More: Keeping Up With the Coronavirus: Observing the COVID-19 “Lockdown”
Essential sectors such as food, social care, health, roadworks, maintenance, deliveries and others have been kept open whilst ‘non-essential’ sectors have either been closed or told to tell their staff to work from home. Ultimately, this has spurred the working class into action. Never before has it been solely up to them to ensure the nation is sustained.
This national dependency has caused a fundamental shift in the social class structure. For the first time since the Second World War, the working class have been pulled into the limelight, pushing free-market Capitalism temporarily into the shadows. Their dedication to work is literally keeping the nation alive. Not so “low-skilled” now, is it?
COVID-19 has completely alternated the roles that are deemed ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’. In ‘normal’ times, far away from any pandemic, the banks and finance industries which sit in the crown of free-market Capitalism glisten in the global limelight. They accumulate immense amounts of wealth and prosperity and exploit everyone without prejudice.
However, when crisis such as COVID-19 falls upon the nation, no manner of wealth and prosperity can help. The banks and finance industries become cold and forgotten in the shadows as the spotlight turns towards the “low-skilled” labourers.
The way that the current global crisis has completely reversed the industry sectors and the structure of class is almost too bizarre to accept. The working class has become the jewel of the nation, yet when the crises ends, they will more than likely be cast aside into the shadows once again; and Capitalism will regain its place.
This begs the question: is this all just a façade?
Is this another example of what Italian Marxist, Antonio Gramsci called ‘Cultural hegemony’, a ploy by the ruling classes to make the working class believe that they are essential? It is difficult to say. Gramsci argued that the ruling class dominate what is otherwise a diverse society by manipulating the overarching culture of that society (beliefs, perceptions, morals etc.). In the current sense, perhaps the ruling class are only giving the impression that the working class are essential. They can suffer under the false appraisal of the government whilst the ruling classes bide their time.
This deception can certainly be seen when one compares the Conservatives’ immigration policy agenda, announced by the Home Secretary Priti Patel, to the current rhetoric surrounding “low-skilled” labour. Patel’s post-Brexit immigration policy stated that those coming to the country would need to already have a job offer which will pay them above the threshold of £25,600 per annum. Any immigrant that would potentially earn below this would be refused entry as they would be deemed, as Patel herself stated, “low-skilled”.
This policy has been temporarily and conveniently shelved whilst the pandemic continues and as the nation depends on “low-skilled” workers for basic survival. The rhetoric of the government has changed its tune somewhat: from “low-skilled” workers and harsh immigration policies, to ‘clap for the NHS’ and a huge appreciation for many key workers that, if Patel’s policy had been implemented, would likely not be here.
There is a sense that once the pandemic is defeated, the class structure will return to what it always has been. The ruling class will dominate society again and the working class will become underappreciated once more and remain underpaid.
Here lies the plight of the working class. People must not forget who stepped up when the nation came to its knees. The government must remember what “low-skilled” workers encountered everyday as they went out to sustain the nation in these dark times. There must be a call after this for more power to be given to the people. Only “low-skilled” labour will drag the country from the clutches of COVID-19. “Low-skilled” workers deserve all the gratification in the world because of what they have done and continue to do. I, the writer, should know this.
I’m one of them.
Words by William Cooper.