What about the so-called precariat, then? Those middle billions just scraping by, what Americans still call the middle class, speaking of nostalgia? Could they rise up and change things by way of some kind of mass action?
So far, since the global financial crisis in 2008, middle class families have been found to have become just as precarious as poor working families.The author hints at a possible mass uprising. A similar uprising is the 1381 Peasants' Revolt where over 10,000 peasants rallied against the regime, led by a 14-year old king, because of the heavy flat-rate taxes imposed on everyone above the age of 15, following the Black Death.
In Robinson's TMftF, revolts, just like terrorism take on a new meaning. Perhaps they have become one and the same. Are the Children of Kali rebels or terrorists? Whichever the classification, the fear they instill largely contributes to the reduction of Carbon levels.