The Fragility of Social Status and the Mediocrity of Middle Class Life in Social Memoirs of the Unemployed

The article contributes to the Polish tradition of research using personal memoirs to illustrate the experience of everyday life. The authors analyze the experiences of middle-class representatives based on data collected through a nationwide competition for a diary of an unemployed person. The diarists experienced unemployment for at least one month between 2016 and 2017. The article shows the fragility of middle-class status, one that is difficult to achieve and easy to lose. The Polish middle class is under constant threat of being "washed away" by a wave created by low wages, poor working conditions, insufficient savings, credit burdens, and the trap of comparing oneself with other representatives of the middle class. The article illustrates the mediocrity of middle-class life-the disillusionment with the quality of life in the middle of the social structure based on deficits in health and psychological well-being and disruptions in social relations.