The (Hidden) Culture Wars

Reflections on Peacemaking Part 3

This article is the third in a series of posts exploring peacemaking and unity in preparation for The (Re)union: A Gathering for Peacemakers, a virtual conference taking place February 26-28, 2025. Follow this link for more information on The (Re)union. Use the code Podcast20 for a 20% discount on your registration.

Do we understand the culture war that is raging?

America has always been a country characterized by a clash of cultures. This seems a natural reality for a vast and diverse country; it is one of the beautiful experiences of being an American. Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, rural Appalachia, Kansas prairies, New Mexico's desert, and New England's fishing towns are just a few examples. From coast to coast, America is filled with cultures shaped by geography, history, population, religion, economic conditions, and more.

The past decade of national elections and rising political polarization have often been viewed as a result of our culture wars. To understand our country's divides, the categories of Republicans vs. Democrats, cultural elites vs. everyday people, urban vs. suburban and rural, conservative vs. progressive, majority vs. minority, and religious vs. secular have been offered. Undoubtedly, all of these cultural categories are part of our divided nation. What if, however, a cultural clash is occurring that we haven’t considered?

To that end, we turn to the work of a German sociologist named Andreas Reckwitz.

The Cultural Clash Within the Middle Class

In his brilliant book The End of Illusions, German sociologist Andreas Reckwitz offers a different perspective on the culture wars polarizing America (and many other countries). These insights provide a helpful lens for us to apply to our current political conflicts and the work of peacemaking amid these conflicts. Central to Andreas’ insights is the changing nature of class structures in the West in Late Modernity.

In American political dialogue, there is much talk about the plight of the middle class. Taxes, the cost of eggs, housing availability, and minimum wage are a few of the conversations reflecting the changing financial realities for middle-class and working-class Americans. What is agreed upon by both political parties is that life isn’t as good as it used to be for the average person. What is polarizing, however, is the solution and cause of this problem. This is where Reckwitz’s work is beneficial. Reckwitz offers a deeper look at how a shift in the global economy began in the late 80s and early 90s, reshaping the middle class and creating a clash between three different cultures. This culture war between the three classes relates directly to our current political polarization.

In modernity (post WWII), the economy was centered around industrialization. The rapid spread of industrialization across the West created a new, rapidly rising middle class characterized by “its relatively egalitarian distribution of wealth (controlled, in large part, by the state and by labor unions). On the other hand, it is also characterized by continuous gains in prosperity (owing to dependable engines of economic growth).”¹ This world allowed the middle class to build comfortable lives with home ownership and key components of wealth accumulation through entry-level positions without a pre-requisite of higher education. This world of modernity also had a “particular everyday culture”.

This is the America of shared culture gathered around three TV stations, trusting the same news sources, cultural conformity, and a sense that anyone could build a successful life through hard work. “Work ethic and family values were highly regarded, while gaining financial security and improving social status were central goals.”² This is the world of Leave it to Beaver, The Jeffersons, All in the Family, and The Andy Griffith Show. It is a world that no longer exists “yet remains surprisingly alive; as a nostalgic memory and even as a normative model invoked by the right and the left alike.”³

Reckwitz suggests that we no longer live in the cultural conditions of modernity that created this middle-class America we long after. Instead, we live in late modernity, which has experienced significant shifts resulting in three different middle-class levels. (It has also created a new upper class of ultra-wealthy people, the likes of which did not exist before. We are also seeing this show up in our politics in significant ways. But that is for another post.) What shifted?

1. The post-industrialization of the economy

2. The expansion of education

3. The process of liberalization that led to a shift in values

Navigating late modernity are people experiencing these shifts in radically different ways. Reckwitz names the New Middle Class, the Older (Traditional) Middle Class, and the Precarious Class. Here is a brief profile of each:

The New Middle Class

• Upwardly mobile

• Gainfully employed

• The driving force behind educational expansion and post-industrialization

• Biggest proponents of liberalization

• Relative winner of recent income trends

• High cultural capital, especially formal educational capital

• Distinguished by its mobility, which has also become a lifestyle value

• The pursuit of self-development defines everyday life

The Older (Traditional) Middle Class

• This class was once “the measure of all things”, the standard

• While society and the world have changed in extreme ways, this class has changed little

• Has not profited from the post-industrialization economy

• Rather than a university degree, its members typically have a high school diploma, occupational training, or professional vocational training

• A more sedentary group, often rooted in the communities in which they grew up

• Ethos of work, family, and region are central

• Having work to do furnishes the individual with a moral quality

• More traditional division of labor along gender roles

• Culturally on the defensive; its life principles have lost their former dominance in society

• Loss of cultural prestige and cultural influence

The Precarious Class

• Structurally uncertain living conditions

• Large portions exist outside of the labor market: living off of government or family support

• Often found in de-industrialized and structurally weak regions (Think Rust Belt America)

• Service class job market

• Below average income, often near minimum wage

• Often hold little to no assets

• Have lost opportunity and social status by being left out of the expansion of education opportunities

• Rather than focusing on self-development or traditional values, the precarious nature of life has resulted in a different lifestyle pattern that muddles through the challenges and difficulties.

• Experiencing a significant loss in the belief and actuality that working hard would result in a comfortable life and social mobility

• A decidedly pessimistic or fatalistic view of its place in history and society

With these categories, one can look at the polarizing political discourse in America and see both parties working to appeal to different experiences and felt needs among vastly different communities. We are polarized not merely by the political parties we support but by wildly divergent experiences within late modernity. What is felt as progress by many is experienced as cultural decline or alienation by others. Appeals to return the country to a previous moment mean very different things to those who have either benefited from the shifts in culture or experienced these shifts as a decline in status or lifestyle.

Conflicts within the American church have also followed the emergence of these various classes. Theological debates about identity, justice, race, diversity, globalization, technology, the environment, immigration, and economics can be overlaid with these classes. The question, then, is, “How might these categories inform the work of peacemaking?”

Empathy Mapping Late Modernity

Empathy Mapping is a tool we use at Ideos as part of our empathic intelligence training, directly supporting peacemaking. This tool cultivates social and cultural change because it helps to sensitize you to the people or groups at the center of issues. It teaches us how to gain perspective on others by gaining greater access to their perceptual world. Here are some ways Reckwitz’s categories can be used for empathy mapping.

(You can read more about this tool and download it for free from our website.)

First, understanding these categories can help us understand why we view the world the way we do. Do we understand not just what we believe but why we believe it? Empathic intelligence requires us to understand the culture that has shaped our beliefs and the expectations and experiences we bring into any encounter with those different from us. Polarizing political machinations seek to weaponize our differences and build in an expectation that those who are different from us or experience the world differently are our enemies. Our journey to peacemaking begins with greater insight into who we are and what we bring into the process.

If we have experienced the radical shifts of late modernity as a blessing, we will view the world far differently than if we have felt left behind or devalued. Diversity and proximity to new cultures can have radically different impacts on similar people. A world of new experiences, shifting opportunities, and a changing social landscape, which includes greater rights and cultural value for you and your community, feels like progress. Suppose those same shifts are experienced as a devaluing of you and your community, a lessening of opportunities, heightened expectations for you to change to function in the world, and discomfort. In that case, a defensive posture is natural.

Second, we can ask better questions and gain greater insight into those who experience the world differently than we do. Understanding our starting point can help us ask curious questions and learn to be good listeners when we work on crossing divides with our neighbors. We want to be able to identify our neighbors' thoughts, feelings, motivations, desires, and needs.

How have our neighbors experienced these changes?

Have they felt left behind or devalued?

How can I help others feel seen and heard?

Do I value their experiences?

If you desire training and teaching on empathy mapping and empathic intelligence, Ideos will lead a live workshop on Peacemaking and Empathic Intelligence at The (Re)union. Click here to register today.

Use the code: Podcast20 to get a 20% discount

So, we'd like to invite you to begin this process by mapping yourself and starting to empathy map your community. Together, we can try to apply Berkwitz’s classifications to peacemaking today.

Reflection questions:
Do I resonate with any of the groups Berkwitz describes?

How have I seen and experienced the shifts described?

Who do I know that has felt devalued or left behind by the shifts in our culture?

How often do I converse with people who might identify with a different category than me? Do I live or work near them?

As I look around my community, who is living precariously? Are there conversations engaging this community to understand their needs and desires? Am I part of them?

1. Andreas Reckwith, The End of Illusions, p.39

2. Illusions, p.41

3. Ibid, p.41