Middle class
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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| Within capitalism, "middle class" initially referred to the ''[[bourgeoisie]]'' and the ''[[petite bourgeoisie]]''. However, with the impoverisation and [[proletarianisation]] of much of the ''petit bourgeois'' world, and the growth of [[finance capitalism]], "middle class" came to refer to the combination of the [[labour aristocracy]], the [[professionals]], and the [[White-collar worker|white collar workers]]. | Within capitalism, "middle class" initially referred to the ''[[bourgeoisie]]'' and the ''[[petite bourgeoisie]]''. However, with the impoverisation and [[proletarianisation]] of much of the ''petit bourgeois'' world, and the growth of [[finance capitalism]], "middle class" came to refer to the combination of the [[labour aristocracy]], the [[professionals]], and the [[White-collar worker|white collar workers]]. | ||
| - | The size of the middle class depends on how it is defined, whether by education, [[wealth]], environment of upbringing, [[social network]], manners or values, etc. These are all related, but are far from deterministically dependent. The following factors are often ascribed in modern usage to a "middle class": | + | ''[[Bourgeois]]'' values include high rates of [[Owner-occupier|house ownership]] and jobs which are perceived to be [[job security|secure]]. |
| - | *Achievement of [[tertiary education]]. | + | |
| - | *Holding professional qualifications, including [[academics]], [[lawyers]], [[chartered engineer]]s, [[politicians]], and [[physicians|doctors]], regardless of leisure or wealth. | + | By the end of the twentieth century, more people identified themselves as middle class than as lower or "working" class (with insignificant numbers identifying themselves as upper class). |
| - | *Belief in ''[[bourgeois]]'' values, such as high rates of [[Owner-occupier|house ownership]] and jobs which are perceived to be [[job security|secure]]. | + | |
| - | *Lifestyle. In the United Kingdom, social status has historically been linked less directly to wealth than in the United States, and has also been judged by signifiers such as [[Accent (dialect)|accent]], manners, place of education, occupation, and the class of a person's family, circle of friends and acquaintances. | + | |
| - | *Cultural identification. Often in the United States, the middle class are the most eager participants in [[pop culture]] whereas the reverse is true in Britain. The second generation of new [[immigrants]] will often enthusiastically forsake their traditional [[folk culture]] as a sign of having arrived in the middle class. | + | |
| - | In the United States by the end of the twentieth century, more people identified themselves as middle class than as lower or "working" class (with insignificant numbers identifying themselves as upper class). The British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], which grew out of the organized labour movement and originally drew almost all of its support from the working class, reinvented itself under [[Tony Blair]] in the 1990s as "[[New Labour#New Labour|New Labour]]", a party competing with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] for the votes of the middle class as well as the working class. By 2011, almost three quarters of British people were also found to identify themselves as Middle Class. | ||
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
| *[[Bourgeoisie]] | *[[Bourgeoisie]] | ||
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| *[[Habitus (sociology)]] | *[[Habitus (sociology)]] | ||
| *[[Iron cage]] | *[[Iron cage]] | ||
| + | *[[Middle of the road]] | ||
| *[[Nuclear family]] | *[[Nuclear family]] | ||
| *[[Petite bourgeoisie]] | *[[Petite bourgeoisie]] | ||
Revision as of 13:08, 30 December 2013
| Les Bourgeois, c'est comme les cochons, refrain from anti-bourgeois song "Les Bourgeois" by Jacques Brel. |
Illustration:Liberty Leading the People (1831, detail) by Eugène Delacroix.
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The middle class is a social and economic class lying above the working class and below the upper class, the groups in society composed of professionals, semi-professionals, and lower-to-middle managerial level workers.
History and evolution of the term
The term "middle class" is first attested in James Bradshaw's 1745 pamphlet Scheme to prevent running Irish Wools to France. The term has had several, sometimes contradictory, meanings. It was once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry of Europe. While the nobility owned the countryside, and the peasantry worked the countryside, a new bourgeoisie (literally "town-dwellers") arose around mercantile functions in the city. Another definition equated the middle class to the original meaning of capitalist: someone with so much capital that they could rival nobles. In fact, to be a capital-owning millionaire was the essential criterion of the middle class in the industrial revolution. In France, the middle classes helped drive the French Revolution.
The modern usage of the term "middle class", however, dates to the 1913 UK Registrar-General's report, in which the statistician T.H.C. Stevenson identified the middle class as that falling between the upper class and the working class. Included as belonging to the middle class are professionals, managers, and senior civil servants. The chief defining characteristic of membership in the middle class is possession of significant human capital.
Within capitalism, "middle class" initially referred to the bourgeoisie and the petite bourgeoisie. However, with the impoverisation and proletarianisation of much of the petit bourgeois world, and the growth of finance capitalism, "middle class" came to refer to the combination of the labour aristocracy, the professionals, and the white collar workers.
Bourgeois values include high rates of house ownership and jobs which are perceived to be secure.
By the end of the twentieth century, more people identified themselves as middle class than as lower or "working" class (with insignificant numbers identifying themselves as upper class).
See also
- Bourgeoisie
- Classlessness
- Cultural hegemony
- Cultural imperialism
- Disenchantment
- Dominant culture
- Family values
- Gemütlichkeit
- Habitus (sociology)
- Iron cage
- Middle of the road
- Nuclear family
- Petite bourgeoisie
- Philistinism
- Social environment
- White-collar
- Yuppie
- The Lonely Crowd
