The forgotten man... He works, he votes, generally he prays, but his chief business in life is to pay.
William Graham SumnerRead
It is the tendency of the social burdens to crush out the middle class, and to force society into an organization of only two classes, one at each social extreme.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Social burdens can diminish the middle class, leading to a polarized society.
The quote by William Graham Sumner highlights the societal tendency where increasing economic and social pressures disproportionately affect the middle class, causing it to shrink and resulting in a society divided into two extreme classes: the very wealthy and the very poor. This polarization threatens social stability and creates significant gaps in wealth and opportunity, ultimately undermining the foundational role of the middle class in a balanced society.
Themes
Social BurdensMiddle ClassPolarizationSocietyEconomic PressureSocial Justice
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be mentioned in a discussion about economic policies at a community meeting.
More from William Graham Sumner
All quotes βWe shall find that every effort to realize equality necessitates a sacrifice of liberty.
William Graham SumnerRead
The Forgotten Man is delving away in patient industry, supporting his family, paying his taxes, casting his vote, supporting the church and the school, reading his newspaper, and cheering for the politician of his admiration, but he is the only one for whom there is no provision in the great scramble and the big divide. Such is the Forgotten Man. He works, he votes, generally he prays β but he always pays β yes, above all, he pays.
William Graham SumnerRead
The men who start out with the notion that the world owes them a living generally find that the world pays its 'debt' in the penitentiary or the poor house.
William Graham SumnerRead
We throw all our attention on the utterly idle question whether A has done as well as B, when the only question is whether A has done as well as he could.
William Graham SumnerRead
Civil liberty is the status of the man who is guaranteed by law and civil institutions the exclusive employment of all his own powers for his own welfare.
William Graham SumnerRead
Similar quotes
The ideas of individual supremacy and the right of free expression, when carried to excess, have not worked. They have made it difficult to keep America society cohesive. Asia can see it is not working.. In America itself, there is widespread crime and violence, old people feel forgotten, families are falling apart. And the media attacks the integrity and character of your leaders with impunity, drags down all those in authority and blames everyone but itself.
Lee Kuan YewRead
The view of how America speaks is reflected in our laws. And one of the laws is fair housing. It very clearly prohibits discrimination in the sale and rental of housing in America. It's been a sad fact of American life that the practice in many communities has been quite the opposite.
Walter F. MondaleRead
One of the things I learned is that you've got to deal with the underlying social problems if you want to have an impact on crime - that it's not a coincidence that you see the greatest amount of violent crime where you see the greatest amount of social dysfunction.
Eric HolderRead
Extreme poverty is the best breeding ground on earth for disease, political instability, and terrorism.
Jeffrey SachsRead
The societies that work build an infrastructure of care_x000D_ as well as an infrastructure of capitalism.
Anne-Marie SlaughterRead
In order to stand well in the eyes of the community, it is necessary to come up to a certain, somewhat indefinite, conventional standard of wealth.
Thorstein VeblenRead