In 2025, the middle class is no longer the “default setting” of society. Once the core group supporting the nation’s economy and a symbol of stability and balance, the middle class is shrinking worldwide, and its foundation is rapidly shaking amid a structure where economic instability and asset disparity intensify simultaneously.
In the United States, the middle-class proportion has fallen below 50% just three years after the pandemic, and in Korea, the concept of a practical middle class is collapsing amid a clear dual structure divided by homeownership. Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia are no exceptions. The triple burden of low growth, high inflation, and high interest rates pressures the everyday economy, and it is assessed that social mobility has virtually come to a halt.
Historically, the middle class was formed on the trust that hard work would lead to home ownership, investment in children’s education, and preparation for old age. They were the center of economic activity, the political balance, and the core of the consumer market. But now, things are different. Real wages have stagnated, while housing, education, healthcare, and financial costs have risen sharply.
Young people find it difficult to become independent even after securing jobs, and middle-aged people worry about retirement even if they own a house. Those without assets are no longer middle class, and without assets, even social safety nets fail to fully reach them. Thus, the middle class is coming to mean not an income class but an unstable state.
This structural collapse has implications beyond mere economic indicators. The weakening of the middle class shakes the foundation of democracy. Historically, the middle class was the “majority sharing common social experiences” that enabled political tolerance, balance, and social solidarity and served as a defense against radical ideologies. But now it is different. The polarized asset structure and hereditary class system breed despair and distrust throughout society, and this void is being filled by radical populism and extreme hate politics. The spread of far-right and far-left ideologies, politicization of hate speech, proliferation of conspiracy theories, and rise of anti-intellectualism are all social symptoms replacing the void left by the collapsed middle class.
The economic structure is not free from responsibility for this collapse. Industrial structures are becoming increasingly technology-intensive and capital-biased. The platform economy has reduced jobs while increasing efficiency, and those with assets are gaining more opportunities in digital asset markets.
Meanwhile, labor market flexibilization has spread unstable employment, and performance-oriented corporate cultures pressure the middle layer, solidifying a structure of “stability at the top, collapse at the bottom.” The ladder that once allowed upward mobility is blocked, and the middle is shrinking. As a result, society is solidifying into a dual structure with a thick upper class and a broad lower class.
Now the middle class is no longer a “symbol of hope” but a “vanishing memory.” Young people have lost belief that they can live better than their parents; those in their 40s endlessly juggle housing, work, and children’s education; and those in their 60s fear that retirement might mean a decline.
The ladder has become a myth, not a structure, and diligence and sincerity have become words leading to resignation rather than reward. No matter how much the government talks about economic recovery, individuals remain isolated, and reality repeats a pattern of relying on temporary policies rather than structural improvements.
The Bible constantly emphasizes fairness and order within the community. The law provides legal and economic safety nets to the marginalized, the weak, workers, foreigners, orphans, and widows, aiming not at a structure where “the rich get richer” but a “living-together order.”
The year of Jubilee was a system to prevent structural class fixation by readjusting land, assets, and debts. Biblical justice includes not just good deeds but an order in which the restoration of the weak is possible. The current collapse of the middle class is not merely an economic loss but also a spiritual warning that society is hardening into an irrecoverable structure.
What is disappearing today is not just income balance but hope within the structure. Communities were designed by God’s order to walk together, and the economy is just when it flows in a life-giving direction. A society where only the rich are protected and the poor cannot even find a way out loses its own vitality.
The church must not remain silent about this trend, and Christians must be able to discern how God’s order is established in the times. If we fail to question this structure now, the next generation will start life already in debt, simply by being born.
Unjust structures cannot last
The collapse of the middle class is not just the crisis of one class. It signals that society as a whole has become a “fixed structure” where upward or downward mobility is impossible, and this structure is increasingly losing flexibility and the possibility of solidarity.
Unjust orders cannot endure, and structures without restoration inevitably collapse. Now is the time to ask again: Does this society leave space for the next generation? In an accelerating world, can we correct the structure before it is too late? When questioning stops, collapse will no longer make a sound.
Maeil Scripture Journal | Today’s World, A View Through the Word
