According
to the World Bank, the global poverty rate is 9.6% and the percentage of people who
are considered to be working poor is 10%.
Many people think that these percentages are understated. Regardless of what the real percentages are,
the world clearly has a significant poverty problem. The “Middle
Class Movement” or “MCM” was
founded to influence a reduction in poverty that would lead to an increase in the
global middle class. MCM is focused on utilizing social
impact measurement to influence an economic revitalization of the world.
Definition of the Middle Class
The term “Middle Class” has historically had many
different definitions because so called experts have attempted to assign an
income threshold to the term. The amount
of money to be considered middle class differs significantly in different parts
of the world. We therefore define the
middle class simply as “households that
can pay their basic bills on time.” If a
household has sufficient income to pay their basic bills (i.e. housing, food, health care, child care, transportation, insurance, etc.) on time, they may still feel
like they are struggling economically.
However, they do not feel the emotional, mental and financial stress of
households that do not have enough money to pay basic bills on time. These households are frequently forced to
commit crimes to survive. We therefore consider
households that cannot pay their basic bills on time “Poor.”
Theoretical Framework
In writing my dissertation this year, I discovered the
importance of having a theoretical framework that provides guidance on one’s
research. I believe that this is
extremely important for successful social movements as well. Dr. King relied on Mahatma Ghandi’s “Theory
of Nonviolent Communication” (Bode, 1995).
His non-violent approach to the Movement was a key factor in its
success.
In 2010, I was writing a book on leadership and looked
up Webster’s definitions of the words “Leadership,” “Command,” and,
“Authority.” I was surprised to discover
that the word “Influence” was used in each of these definitions. This discovery convinced me to refocus my
book on influence instead of leadership.
This research led me to develop “Intelligent
Influence Theory” which states that people “do what they do, think the way they think, and accomplish what they
accomplish because of influence.” Intelligent Influence Theory suggests
that the right publicly accepted social impact measures will influence leaders
to adopt policies that grow the middle class and reduce poverty.
Mission
The mission of the Middle
Class Movement is “to increase the
middle class by reducing financial, educational and emotional poverty.” The extant literature suggests that previous efforts
to reduce poverty have failed because they have focused on reducing financial
poverty and largely ignored educational and emotional poverty (Caldwell,
2017). If a household receives more
income and they are illiterate, the income will likely not be sustainable. If a household receives more income and is
literate but they are dealing with emotional and behavioral issues, that income
will likely not last. It is therefore
essential to ensure that people are financially, educationally and emotionally
healthy for them to reach and remain in the middle class.
Strategy
MCM’s
strategy to influence global change is to use social impact measures to
influence leaders to adopt policies and programs that reduce, financial,
educational and emotional poverty and grow the middle class. Measures like the Living Wage Index (LWI)
that we created based on the MIT Living Wage Calculator, clearly show the percentage of households that can pay their
bills (the middle class). By holding
leaders accountable for increasing measures like the LWI, we can influence a
growth in the middle class through job creation programs.
Funding
We do not believe that grant funding is sustainable so
we are focused on generating our own income.
MCM is in the process of
establishing a 15 city music tour making stars of previously unknown local
artists that we call the People Up Music
Tour. This unique entertainment
program, which is owned exclusively by MCM,
will identify the next generation of music artists and provide significant funding
for the operations of the Middle Class
Movement. Entertainment is the
perfect vehicle to provide sustainable funding for MCM.
84% Solution
The roll of two or more dice hundreds of times results in what statisticians call a bell curve or normal probability distribution. This type of distribution is surprisingly frequent in nature. If household income data fell into a normal distribution, then it is likely that even with the most
effective programs possible, 16% of the world's households will be extraordinarily
wealthy and 16% of the households will extremely poor. We therefore believe that a realistic global
goal is for 84% of households to earn sufficient income to be classified as middle
class or wealthy.
The good news is that if this goal is achieved, the
world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will reach record highs and the quality of
life throughout the world will be increased significantly. If more people can pay their bills and become
middle class, the existing middle class and the wealthy will earn more income so
everyone will benefit. There is
absolutely no political or financial reason not to support the Middle Class Movement. We are therefore looking for as many people
as possible to help us use the MCM to
push the world toward this “84% Solution.” If you would like more information about MCM, please visit www.MiddleClassMovement.com.
