Final answer:
The working class often resented middle-class legislation because it interfered with their autonomy and failed to consider their reliance on family wages. This legislation was seen as an imposition from a class that sometimes stereotyped the working class as lazy, rather than an effort to genuinely understand and solve the problems that they faced.
Step-by-step explanation:
The working class sometimes resented the attempts of the middle class to pass legislation intended to help them due to perceived interference with autonomy. Middle-class reformers sought to improve society by altering personal behavior and promoting morality, often without fully understanding the working class's reliance on every member's wages. Legislation such as the abolishment of child labor and the regulation of working hours aimed at social improvement sometimes conflicted with the immediate needs and values of working-class families, who might depend on their children's wages or have their own views on work and leisure balance.
Additionally, the working class formed unions and engaged in politics to protect their interests and to force employer concessions regarding wages and working conditions, rather than relying on middle-class-imposed legislation. Misgivings towards the bourgeoisie were deepened by the middle class periodically stereotyping the working class as inherently weak or lazy, leading to a further distrust of middle-class motives.