The middle classes are the enemy of liberal, open societies

bourgeois 

adjective disapproving UK /ˈbɔːʒ.wɑː/ US /ˈbʊrʒ.wɑː/
 belonging to or typical of the middle class (= a social group between the rich and the poor) especially in supporting existing customs and values, or in having a strong interest in money and possessions:

The Myth of Middle-Class Liberalism https://t.co/vjozlRs6n8

— mozu (@mozumozumozu) 2020年1月22日

 A more careful look at the past shows that the middle classes have frequently sided with illiberal forms of government when they feared for their privileges and social stability.

Throughout the 19th century, the golden age of the bourgeoisie, the middle classes in most parts of the world lived in autocracies — among the few exceptions were Britain and the United States — and didn’t always struggle for more political freedom. Anxious about the growing strength of the working classes, segments of the middle classes even welcomed limits on political freedom. As early as 1842, the German revolutionary poet Heinrich Heine, then exiled in Paris, observed that the politics of the middle classes were “motivated by fear,” as they were all too willing to give up their ideals of liberty to protect their socioeconomic position from the lower classes

The 19th-century middle classes also showed little concern over the social and political exclusion of large segments of society — minorities, women, workers. Inequalities — ethnic, gender, social — were part of the middle-class world, in complete contradiction to the universal values of freedom, equality and civility.

Terrified by the specter of communism, the middle classes across Europe flocked to right-wing strongmen, showing little commitment to the ideals of liberal democracy and parliamentarism. Autocrats like Mussolini, Franco and Hitler seemed to offer protection for their wealth.

Middle classes are not a priori engines of political liberalization. They can readily become the promoters of repressive authoritarianism if they fear for the loss of influence and wealth.

　中産階級、中流階級は、政治的自由、開放された社会の推進役だと思われているが、実際には反対で、自分たちの経済的な権益をまもるために、非リベラル政策を支持したり、少数弱者について排外的な態度をとるものなのだ、と。