The idea of human 'classes' is nonsense but the Scottish Parliament still has a problem
Scotland must not allow the gap between ordinary voters and its ‘political class’ to become an unbridgeable divide
“I look down on him because I am upper class,” says John Cleese’s bowler-hatted character in the satirical 1960s TV programme, The Frost Report. “I look up to him because he is upper class, but I look down on him because he is lower class. I am middle class,” says the trilby-wearing Ronnie Barker. “I know my place,” says Ronnie Corbett, from beneath his flat cap, to laughter.
Over the centuries, there have, of course, been many different ideas based on the concept of different human ‘classes’. Some have claimed that societal boundaries are divinely ordained – for example, as expressed in the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful: “The rich man in his castle, The poor man at his gate, God made them, high or lowly, And ordered their estate.”
Others, inspired by the likes of Karl Marx, suppose that the ‘class struggle’ between capitalists and the proletariat will inevitably lead to a revolution, ushering in a new golden age ‘for the many, not the few’ as some might say.
A medieval hangover
However, despite all the trouble, conflict and lives lost as a result of this pervasive idea, there is a clear and obvious truth: it is all complete and utter nonsense – a fiction we have invented and a medieval hangover that we should have left behind a long time ago. No human is born into one class or another and bound to stay there. Poor people can become rich, and vice versa.
That said, concern about the lack of diversity of MSPs’ backgrounds cannot be dismissed. If our politicians are drawn from a homogenous clique rather than a broad spectrum of society, they are unlikely to reflect everyday experiences. The risk is they start governing for ‘people like us’, rather than the whole population.
Scotland needs a diverse parliament. For years, it’s had too many career politicians and not enough with business experience in particular. And all parties need to consider the barriers that are preventing people from poorer backgrounds from entering politics.
The shockingly low 53 per cent turnout for the Scottish Parliament election – 12 years after nearly 85 per cent of the electorate voted in the Scottish independence referendum – is a warning sign about the growing disconnect between the public and our political ‘class’, as some like to call it.
Only bad things will happen if we allow that gap to grow into one that is, for many, an unbridgeable social divide.
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