I was ruminating on how much my position of wage-slavery and being burned out/ overworked sucks when it stumbled upon a bit of a question. Maybe it's dumb, but I'd like your thoughts on it. Were the boomers, the ones whose positions came a lot easier, who were able to buy houses with one main earner in the family etc. not a rare generational phenomenon?
In history, as long as societies have been a thing, it seems the vast majority of people have been worked to death. Serfdom in one shape or another was quite a widespread phenomenon in medieval times, nevermind actual slavery being quite common throughout history wherever a lot of people settled down and needed work done that nobody would want to do voluntarily. The rich being ultra rich and the poor being poor, with no middle class to speak off seemed to be the norm. Hell, even my grandparents had to work ridiculously hard to only ever have lived in relatively small apartments, while my folks could get a house on one main income. Maybe the world post WW2 was a relative outlier of a time and this is status societies default back to when such a vivid event isn't in recent past…
This isn't me saying we should accept this BTW. It's just a scary thought about us being part of a pattern we might not have much control in and it depressed me all the more for it. I WANT this thought to be challenged.