中流階級の常識
How the Middle Class Appropriated the Society
文字数1360字
この話題をあまり言う人を見たことがないので、書きたいと思います。
Since I do not really see anyone bring up this topic much, I wish to write briefly about it.
人は頑張って成功したり、社会に貢献したりするのが当たり前で理想的な人生だと見られるのは、中流階級の価値観だと言えます。
The thing is when we often say that people should try to succeed in life then contribute to the society as if it is something so natural (or even ideal), maybe it is just a middle-class way of thinking and values.
私たちはこんなに頑張っているのに、なぜ上流階級の人々はその社会の流れに対抗しないのか、『常識』があるのかと疑問に思ったら、それは本当にそうかもしれません。
So if we ever think that while we have to struggle this hard, why people in the upper class do not seem having to heed to demands of the society just like us at all, and wonder if they have any “common sense,” well, maybe they really do not.
私たちの『常識』はどこからもらったと見たら、普遍的な真理より『お金が若干に足りないこと』も考えられます。社会人になると成功して裕福になる方がいると言えば、ただ普通に生計を立てられる方が多くて、続いている日々は上だという、まだ自分が届かないところを見上げるのだと。
That is because when we look at where we acquired our “common sense” from, although nobody knows, presumably it is rooted partly in the feeling of “inability to spend money freely” rather than it being truly universal. Even if it is true that there are many people who become rich and successful later in life, there are also many who just make ends meet, and the lives they have to live on are the lives that consistently look up above, that is upon somewhere they cannot reach.
私たちの心理の背景はまだその『届かないところ』があって、みんなは持っているので『コンプレックス』だと呼ばれませんが、考えずに自分は頑張るべきと感じるし、成功して社会を貢献するループの考え方をなぜ自分が持っているのもわからないのくらいは、今までの環境からの影響ではないかと。
For the reason, the landscape behind our mentality is vastly about “somewhere we cannot reach.” Even if we are yet to call it “psychological complex” because everyone seems to have it, such things like how we constantly feel the need to succeed and then contribute to the society in an endless loop to the point that we do not even know why we think so, it is probably as a product of our upbringing.
『常識的に』私たちは『社会』のだれかになりたいと言っても、主な動機は業績の話より、裕福なライフスタイルだし、重要で注目を浴びたい人生がほしいとかは？『成功したい』と言い続ける人たちのなかに、ただもてたいでも気づかない人が何割？逆にもしもともと人が色々揃っている人生があれば、俗に『成功したい』気分がどのくらい減っているのだろう。
Even though we say as a “common sense” that we want to become someone in the society, isn’t it actually about the desire for a more luxury lifestyle with people paying attention to us, than simply just about career achievements? How many of us who say we want to “succeed” simply just mean to succeed in “love life” (meaning: having many casual flings), but fail to realize that motive? And on the contrary if there’s someone whose life is largely satisfied to begin with, how much of the so-called “wish to succeed” in them would dissipate then?
日本の社会よりはっきり例えは韓国の財閥の子たちだと言ったら、私たちはだめな子を見る度に、なぜ彼らは『常識』がないのか、『社会』に真面目に働いて、『社会』に貢献するのはだれでも知っていることなのにと思いそうですが、悲惨な真実はそれが中流階級の社会です。
Instead of our society, if we are to take South Korea’s chaebols’ heirs who have wasted away their lives as a more obvious example, it is likely that we would wonder why they seem to lack “common sense” so much when we see news about them, despite anybody should know that we are obliged to work hard in “the society,” and then contribute something back to “the society.” However the harsh truth is that is the middle-class society.
……はい、多分、今まで私たちは呼んでいる『社会』って、『中流階級』のみの社会です。
…Yes, perhaps “the society” as we call it up until now, strictly speaking, means just a society of the “middle-class.”
『みんなは平等』と言い張って自分よりお金がある人を引っ張ろとしてここの彼らは、お金持ちが自分と同じくらい生活をすると見たら嬉しいと感じながら、自分はもっと貧困な家族に付き合いたくないし彼らは近所に住んでいたら嫌だし警戒している、という『社会』です。
These are the people here who chant “everyone is equal,” trying to pull anyone who are wealthier than them down to their levels, while feeling content that the rich should live the same life as they do. However, they themselves do not seem wanting to mingle with poorer families, and if they were to become neighbors they would be under close surveillance, such kind of a “society.”
お金持ちはただ自分よりお金があって高い物を気軽に買える存在だけはいろんな作品をよく見ましたが、それがよくある自分を投影するままの書きミスです。現実の彼らだと言ったら、SNSでおしゃれな食事や飛行機のファーストクラスの写真より、なにかしっているのが全然知らないじゃないですか。
Even if rich people are often being portrayed in fictional works as those who just have more money and spend more freely than us, that is a common mistake in writing that the authors just project themselves into the characters. Maybe in reality such as in social networks, instead of our seeing photos of their stylish dining or high-end seats on the airplanes, doesn’t it seem like that we do not know what they are up to at all?
『中流階級』は『社会』に自分の価値の見せるのは『中流階級の社会』なのだと言ったら、その階級じゃない人なら見せることが意味がないかもしれません。
If we are saying “the society” that the “middle-class” is trying to prove they worthiness to is just the “middle-class society,” perhaps it does not make any sense if people from the other class should need to prove themselves here too.
なので、人を見るときに、彼らの価値は仕事と成績だし、社会のためになにしたのを厳しく見るのはある程度私たちの『常識』だけです（ちゃんと考えたら、私たちはだれよりも人の収入などに気に入ると思いませんか）ところが、『上層階級』のことはある程度私たちのルールが当てはまらないことです。
Therefore, when we feel so obsessed with judging other people by their career and achievements, and what they have done for the society than anything else, it is only just because of our “common sense.” (If we think carefully, don’t you think that we care to know about other people’s salaries than any other social classes?) What we regard as “universal rules” do not seem to apply beyond the class border much.
それに裕福な人たちに『ダメ』なのは多いと見られたら、バカだというより、一般的な人も自由があればどのくらい真面目で働いて社会に貢献するのか、という割合で見た方がいいかもしれません。
That is if we see many “spoiled” wealthy people, instead of to judge them as being useless, we should look at this probably as a real proportion of how many people would want to work and contribute to the society if they had the freedom to choose.
経験上ですが、欲深くない、高潔な方の人は、想像通りのところにいるではないと。
From my experience, the people who are not so greedy and have relatively good characters might not be exactly from the places you would expect much.
