The top 1% have been an easy political punching bag and scapegoat for our modern political problems. However, the top 10% are equally if not more responsible for the multiple crises within which we live. Marcos Gonzalez Hernando and Gerry Mitchell argue we need to rethink inequality if we are to solve political problems in this article based off their recent book Uncomfortably Off published by Bristol University Press.

Since at least 2008, elites seem to have been behind everything that is wrong fuelling populism of all stars and stripes. But who exactly are the elite? For most of us, the elite is a shorthand for the 1% with the most income (and/or wealth). Bankers, billionaires, Goldman Sachs, Elon Musk. The kind of people whose economic reality and worries are completely different to ours.

However, if inequality is to be reduced, a broader group must be engaged with. In our recent book, Uncomfortably Off, it’s the top 10%, those earning £60,000 and above: the professionals and managers in sectors as varied as law, accounting, healthcare, the media, the state, academia, industry, and politics.

Interviewing them for the book, we found out they mostly socialise with people they meet at work and university, settings which are increasingly segregated by class. Because of that, they do not tend to think they’re rich, and rarely know where they sit on the income distribution. This is partly why headlines such as 'the richest 10% feel they are struggling' and ‘why a six-figure salary no longer means you're rich’ are becoming more frequent.

___

Those we interviewed are very much aware their children will find it harder to own their own homes.

___