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The middle class – an appetite for change

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Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, President, Bank Pekao spoke at the panel, 'How will we know when we get there: thriving societies defined by the middle class'

Anna Derevyanko, Director of the European Business Association, stressed that the middle class is ambitious for economic but also political freedom at the panel discussion.

Arkady Ostrovsky, Moscow Bureau Chief of The Economist, acted as moderator of the panel.

Does the young man walking down the streets of Moscow with an iPod plugged in his ears or the Polish voter belong to the middle class? Is it how much you spend or how much you engage that counts most? Does the middle class thrive in democracies only and is dictatorship the worst enemy of the middle class?

A sociologist, a former politician, an economist and two businessmen opened the Pandora’s box of the middle class in an Annual Meeting panel looking at thriving societies defined by the middle class.

Dr Anna Andreenkova, a co-director of the Institute for Comparative Social Research in Russia, described a member of the middle class as a person with purchasing power, educated, belonging to the service class and benefiting most from the political system in place. “There is something about everybody in the definition of the middle class,” said Dr Andreenkova.

Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, a former Polish Prime Minister, said that getting the middle class involved in politics is almost a mission impossible. Casting a vote wasn’t a priority for the Polish middle class until the most recent elections.

Arkady Ostrovsky, the Moscow Bureau Chief Economist, invited the audience to view the middle class through the eyes of the Polish people who have driven demand for democratic institutions and through the eyes of the Russians with purchasing power as the strongest feature of the middle class.

Lauri Veijalainen, Chief Financial Officer at Ikea in Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine describes the typical Ikea customer in Moscow – female, 30 years old, with an annual salary of US$ 20,000, a mortgage and living alone. Judging from the spending habits, Mr Veijalainen says that the middle class has a mentality of faith in good times and it enjoys the stability of the moment.

Anna Derevyanko, Director of the European Business Association, the biggest association for foreign business in Ukraine, says that the middle class is ambitious for economic but also political freedom. According to Ms Derevyanko, the Ukrainian Orange Revolution was the time when the values of the middle class spilled out in the streets. “Citizens realised they were mistreated and stood up,” says Ms Derevyanko.

Speakers and participants in the panel had different views on the existence of the middle class in the former Soviet Union but Alex Herdt, CEO of the Ogilvy Group in Central and Eastern Europe, set the tone. “Dictatorship is the enemy of the middle class,” Mr Herdt said. He added that journalists, scientists and private entrepreneurs are an important part of the middle class. They drive the society ahead.

“Private ownership is an important feature of the middle class in democratic societies,” said former Polish Prime Minister Bielecki. “I pay homage to the middle class in Poland for creating jobs.”

Questioned whether Russia, dominated by large enterprises, is doomed, Dr Andreenkova responded: “In the modern world, the core of the middle class has moved from private entrepreneurs to intellectuals who manage jobs. They sell their skills in a free market.”

After one hour of discussions, it seemed that 'middle class' was a concept that escaped easy definition.

“It is a mindset,” said Arkady Ostrovsky, “and it is in the eye of the beholder.”

How will we know if we belong to the middle class? Do an Ikea buyer, a voter or a journalist describe best the middle class?

“They all do,” responded a member of the audience. And they all have appetite for change, appetite for engaging and appetite for knowledge.

By Marjola Xhunga, Communications Advisor
19 May 2008