| The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social
group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between
the nobility and the peasantry. In
early industrial capitalism the middle class was defined by exclusion of all
remaining semi-feudal nobles, all remaining semi-feudal peasants, and the emerging working class. Since the working classes constituted the vast majority of the population, the middle classes
actually lay near the top of the social pyramid.
Some of modern theories of political economy consider a large
middle class to be a beneficial, stabilizing influence on society, because it has
neither the posited explosive revolutionary tendencies of the lower class, nor the stultifying greedy tendencies of the upper class.
In an everyday context, those who reside in the Middle Classes tend to be Businessmen or those who hold professional jobs, such as
lawyers, doctors or clergymen.
Sociological debates concerning definition
The middle class is colloquially used in English to refer to
highly paid white collar workers and their families - and this often means
those with a professional qualification. These workers usually have a tertiary education. They possess jobs which are perceived to be "secure". This colloquial middle class has historically low rates
of union membership, high rates of house or long-term lease ownership, and is perceived to believe in bourgeois values.
Most sociological definitions of middle class follow Max Weber. Here the
middle class is defined by a similar income level as semi-professionals, or business owners; by a shared
culture of domesticity and sub-urbanity; and, by a level of relative security against
social crisis in the form of socially desired skill or wealth.
The size of the middle class depends on how it is defined. By education, money or
wealth, environment of upbringing, birth
(genetic relationships), social
network, etc. These are all related, though far from deterministically dependent.
The middle class of the First World
As the swollen middle class in the first world lost its distinctive usefulness as a label, observers invented sub-labels: we
often detect in contemporary societies an "upper middle class"
and a "lower middle
class". However, some have argued that the "lower-middle" class merely represents a materially privileged (by global
standards) but positionally disadvantaged working class. Sociologists have argued that such people are not a part of the middle
class at all. On the other hand, one could regard the western countries as having outsourced the labour requirements previously fulfilled by the working classes to less affluent countries.
Clearly industrialisation has reduced those requirements in some
ways, but given that the richest countries buy goods from the poorest in quantities they could not produce themselves, it does
not seem to have removed them.
The middle class of the United States
While 95 percent of Americans identify themselves as middle-class,
using the measures of sociology the reality seems different: Some of these individuals are (in those terms) lower or upper class.
The expansion of the phrase in the United States appears to have been predicated in the 1970s by the decline of labor unions, the entrance of formerly
domestic women into the public adult work force, and the naming and blaming of the underclass in the slums.
Around 1980, when asked what level of personal income would qualify as middle-class,
George H. W. Bush replied: $50,000. In fact, only 5 percent of
the U.S. population was making that level of income at the time.
Though net worth usually determines social class, incomes between $20,000 and
$75,000 are generally considered middle class. Most economists define "middle class" citizens as those with net worths of between
$25,000 (low-middle class) to $250,000. However, net worths slightly over $250,000 generally are not considered to be wealthy,
yet rather, upper-middle-class. Those with net worths between $250,000 and $500,000 typically are categorized as
upper-middle-class.
Threats to the US middle class
In the 1990s and 2000s, many feared that the
spreading of a perceived wealth gap would lead to a "collapse of the middle" in American society. Political theories are in
conflict on both the effect of an actual increased wealth gap, as well as a decreased wealth gap, and the perception of each
respectively. It is worth noting that research, such as Diener's and Suh's Culture and Subjective Well-Being, MIT Press,
indicates that there is more subjective well being when there is greater inequality, and less subjective well being with greater
equality. Factors often identified by Leftist economists as threats to the middle class are downsizing in many sectors of the American economy, and the systematic elimination of unionized labor. Other
economists disagree, however, and believe that downsizing is simply the constant churn of the economy reacting to changing market
conditions to achieve maximum efficiency, and that unions, while increasing wages and jobs for union members, decreases wages and
eliminates jobs for all non-union workers, especially in the non-skilled and semi-skilled professions. Indeed, many economists
and financial experts believe that the only "threat" to the middle-class is economic stagnation, overtaxation and
overregulation.
Politics of the US middle class
In the United States, politicians typically target the votes of the middle
classes. The middle class is perceived to include many swing voters. This
is attempted (and apparently achieved) by pandering to their tastes, as party researchers and marketers see them.
Marxism and the middle class
Marxism does not necessarily see the groups described above as the middle class.
Marxism postulates that social classes have a specific relationship with means of production. A noble owns land. A capitalist owns capital. A worker owns their ability to work.
However, between the rulers and the ruled there is most often a group of people, often called a middle class which lacks a
specific relationship. Historically, during feudalism, the bourgeoisie were that middle class. People often describe the contemporary
bourgeoisie, incorrectly, as a middle class.
The exact composition of the middle class under capitalism is vigourously debated by Marxists. Some describe a "coordinating
class" which implements capitalism, composed of the petit
bourgeoisie, professionals and managers. Others dispute this, freely using the term middle class to refer to affluent white collar workers as
described above. Still others, (Council communists) allege that
there is a class comprising intellectuals, technocrats and managers which seeks power in its own right. This last group of
communists allege that such technocratic middle classes seized power and government for themselves in the Soviet-style societies.
The middle class is not a fixed category within Marxism, and debate continues as to the content of this social group.
For Marxist views on this class, compare bourgeoisie. Note that this is
not the same thing as middle class.
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