Paper short abstract:

The main purpose of this paper is to define the middle-class by means of technology of the self. Based on the ethnographic research within coaching community in Poland I show that the middle-class is performed and lived through the coaching process, which can help to reach the emotional capital.

Paper long abstract:

In their self-help book Middle-Class Lifeboat, Paul and Sarah Edwards offer answers to the following question: "how we can ride through the waves of change and continue to enjoy the promise, security, and gratification a middle-class lifestyle"? The authors argue that, in the face of the "economic sea change", one of the ways to achieve this aim is to participate in life and career coaching. Coaching is defined as a process oriented on upgrading skills, overcoming limitations and changing professional or personal life of either individuals or occupational groups. From the analytical perspective, coaching can be seen as a materialization of neoliberal governmentality aiming to produce accountable and effective middle-class subjectivities. In my paper, which is based on ethnographic research on the coaching community in Poland, I present how the middle-class is performed and lived through the coaching process. I argue that the definitions of the middle-class based on its relationship with the economic, cultural and social capital are not sufficient. To this list I add another type of capital: emotional. Coaching helps to reach that emotional capital. The identity of the middle-class members' is not only created by accumulating material goods and by acquiring ideas and objects of cultural value, but also by applying practices which serve to achieve personal development, emotional intelligence, and inner wisdom. These practices are the neoliberal technologies of the self. To sum up, in my paper I define the middle-class by the concepts of technology of the self and emotional capital.