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6 - The Middle Class and Workers

from II - Applications

Lisa A. Keister  and
Darby E. Southgate
Lisa A. Keister
Affiliation:
Duke University, North Carolina
Darby E. Southgate
Affiliation:
Los Angeles Valley College
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Summary

When asked, 9 of 10 Americans respond that they are middle-class or upper middle-class (Taylor et al. 2008). However, ask them to clarify what it means to be middle class and they often reply it is because some people have more and some people have less than they do. Being middle class, then, is a default category that says little about what class membership holds.

What it means to be middle class has long interested sociologists. Finding a precise definition is an ongoing process in the social sciences; it has been situated between rich and poor, prompting some to call it a “rhetorical device whose characteristics are created mainly to illuminate groups above and below” (Stearns 1979: 378). Others have found a particular ideology, grouping of occupations, and lifestyles associated with the middle class. However, it remains an illusive stratum as social scientists cannot agree on the form, membership, or numbers associated with the class. Today, the middle class consists of about three-quarters of the American population who earn between $30,000 and $150,000 annually (U.S. Census Bureau 2009). This group is not cohesive; indeed, it consists of different classes of people grouped into one category that is neither rich nor poor.

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Chapter
Information
Inequality
A Contemporary Approach to Race, Class, and Gender
 , pp. 215 - 251
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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