Middle class

From Wikinfo

The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and working class folk. Since the working classes constituted the vast majority of the population, the middle classes actually lay near the top of the social pyramid. In Europe and the United States, industrialization eventually caused the middle class to swell at the expense of the lower, so that by the middle of the 20th century it constituted a majority. Now, the label is often swollen to cover the bulk of society and its norms. This is arguably a re-labeling of large portions of the working class, especially professionals such as physicians as middle class.

As the swollen middle class lost its distinctive usefulness as a label, observers invented sub-labels: we often detect in contemporary societies at least an "upper middle class" and a "lower middle class".

Modern political economy considers a large middle class to be a beneficial, stabilizing influence on society, because it has neither the explosive revolutionary tendencies of the lower class, nor the stultifying greedy tendencies of the upper class.

For Marxist views on this class, compare bourgeoisie.

Further Reading

• Barbara Ehrenreich, Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, Harpercollins, 1990, trade paperback, ISBN 0060973331; hardcover, Pantheon, 1989, ISBN 0394556925

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Middle_class" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class, used under the GNU Free Documentation License