i really think that lower/middle/upper class terminology has been one of the greatest weapons for the bourgeoisie in obscuring class relations. at this point if you call a white collar office drone "working class" most of them will be legitimately offended, and so you cut off a huge percentage of the working class from even thinking about class struggle. and the small business owner just slots in nicely alongside the white collar office drone in the "middle class" as if theres no difference between them. ive been making a conscious effort lately to talk about lower/middle/upper income working-class people instead in discussions where wealth is the relevant factor, but im not sure how much it helps. i do think reclaiming class terminology is a hill worth dying on though.

also im sure theres a tonne written about this but ive also been thinking recently about the ideological content of western government support for small business. the "mum and dad" businesses as the hardworking salt of the earth that politicians love to go on about are such good propaganda tools for bourgeois interests and obscuring class relations, and i feel like so many of them would be outcompeted and destroyed or gobbled up by large corporate chains by now without the intervention of state policies. i do wonder to what extent small business has been consciously propped up precisely as an intentional smokescreen to obscure class relations (as opposed to just general pro-market sentiment).