new middle class

(noun)

The American middle class, at least those living the lifestyle, has become known around the world for conspicuous consumption. To this day, the professional middle class in the United States holds the world record for having the largest homes, most appliances, and most automobiles.

Related Terms

Examples of new middle class in the following topics:

  • New Social Movements

    • Firstly, the rise of the post-industrial economy is responsible for a new wave of social movement.
    • Departing from the worker's movement, which was central to the political aim of gaining access to citizenship and representation for the working class, new social movements concentrate on bringing about social mobilization through cultural innovations, the development of new lifestyles, and the transformation of identities.
    • Hence, new social movements are understood as "new," because they are first and foremost social, unlike older movements which mostly have an economic basis.
    • Additionally, if old social movements, namely the worker's movement, presupposed a working class base and ideology, the new social movements are presumed to draw from a different social class base, i.e., "the new class. " This is a complex contemporary class structure that Claus Offe identifies as "threefold" in its composition: the new middle class, elements of the old middle class, and peripheral groups outside the labor market.
    • As stated by Offe, the new middle class has evolved in association with the old one in the new social movements because of its high levels of education and its access to information and resources.

  • Social Class

    • In September 2011, members of the middle and lower classes began to protest and set up temporary encampments next to Wall Street in New York City, the center for American banking and financial life.
    • Social class is commonly organized into a three-class model, by which individuals are separated into upper, middle, and lower classes.
    • The middle class is the broadest swath of society, consisting of professional workers, small business owners, and low-level managers.
    • Social class in the United States looks a little bit different than one might suppose given the three-class model.
    • As you can see, the upper class in the United States contains very few Americans; the population is concentrated in the middle and lower classes.

  • Class Structure in the U.S.

    • Many Americans recognize a simple three-tier model that includes the upper class, the middle class, and the lower or working class.
    • The middle class (40%) is divided into upper-middle class (14%, earning $76,000 or more per year) and the lower-middle class (26%, earning $46,000 to $75,000 per year).
    • A commonly used model for thinking about social classes in the U.S. attributes the following general characteristics to each tier: the upper class has vast accumulated wealth and significant control over corporations and political institutions, and their privilege is usually inherited; the corporate elite consists of high-salaried stockholders, such as corporate CEOs, who did not necessarily inherit privilege but have achieved high status through their careers; the upper-middle class consists of highly educated salaried professionals whose occupations are held in high esteem, such as lawyers, engineers, and professors; the middle class (the most vaguely defined and largest social class) is generally thought to include people in mid-level managerial positions or relatively low status professional positions, such as high school teachers and small business owners; the working class generally refers to those without college degrees who do low level service work, such as working as a sales clerk or housekeeper, and includes most people whose incomes fall below the poverty line.
    • Many sociologists dispute the existence of such class mobility and point to the ways in which social class is inherited.
    • For example, a son or daughter of a wealthy individual may carry a higher status and different cultural connotations than a member of the nouveau riche ("new money").

  • The Upper Middle Class

    • The upper-middle class refers to people within the middle class that have high educational attainment, high salaries, and high status jobs.
    • Sociologists use the term "upper-middle class" to refer to the social group consisting of higher-status members of the middle class.
    • This is in contrast to the term "lower-middle class," which is used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum, and to the broader term "middle class. " There is considerable debate as to how to define the upper-middle class.
    • According to his definition, the middle class consists of an upper-middle class, made up of professionals distinguished by exceptionally high educational attainment and high economic security; and a lower-middle class, consisting of semi-professionals.
    • Moreover, members of the upper-middle class are generally more economically secure than their lower-middle class counterparts.

  • The Lower Middle Class

    • The lower-middle class are those with some education and comfortable salaries, but with socioeconomic statuses below the upper-middle class.
    • Primary school teachers are examples of members of the lower-middle class.
    • In American society, the middle class is often divided into the lower-middle class and upper-middle class.
    • The lower-middle class (also sometimes simply referred to as the middle class) consists of roughly one third of households—it is roughly twice as large as the upper-middle and upper classes.
    • The lower-middle class is among the largest social classes, rivaled only by the working class, and it is thought to be growing.

  • Politics

    • Educational attainment, an indicator of social class, can predict political participation.
    • Social class impacts one's level of political participation and political influence.
    • This trend means that middle and upper class individuals have greater political participation and greater political influence than those in lower positions.
    • Some groups have combined identity politics and Marxist social class analysis and class consciousness.
    • During the 1980s, the politics of identity became very prominent and was linked with new social movement activism.

  • The Working Class

    • Secretaries, farmers, and hair stylists may all be considered members of the working class.
    • Since many members of the working class, as defined by academic models, are often identified in the vernacular as being middle class, there is considerable ambiguity over the term's meaning.
    • In the class models devised by sociologists, the working class comprises between 30 percent and 35 percent of the population, roughly the same percentage as the lower middle class.
    • Due to differences between middle and working-class cultures, working-class college students may face "culture shock" upon entering the post-secondary education system, with its "middle class" culture.
    • Explain how differences in class culture may affect working-class students who enter the post-secondary education system

  • Social Class in the U.S.

    • Many Americans believe in a simple three-class model that includes the rich or upper class, the middle class, and the poor or working class.
    • The middle class (40%) is divided into the upper-middle class (14%, earning $76,000 or more per year) and the lower-middle class (26%, earning $46,000 to $75,000 annually).
    • Since the middle class is the largest yet most vaguely defined class, it is important to think about how people come to identify themselves as "middle class."
    • Some people define middle class by income, whereas others are more concerned with values and job description.
    • Most people define middle class in terms of income and values (such as education and religion).

  • Social Class

    • Many Americans believe in a simple three-class model that includes upper class, the middle class, and the lower class or working class.
    • Thought of this way, once individuals identify as being within a class group they begin to adhere to the behaviors they expect of that class.
    • By adhering to class expectations, individuals create sharper distinctions between classes than may otherwise exist.
    • Sociologists studying class distinctions since the 1970s have found that social classes each have unique cultural traits.
    • Because individuals' social networks tend to be within their own class, they acculturate to, or learn the values and behaviors of, their own class.

  • Open vs. Closed Stratification Systems

    • In an open class system, people are ranked by achieved status, whereas in a closed class system, people are ranked by ascribed status.
    • Though the extent to which individuals have social mobility in the United States is debated, new members of the elite are evidence that there is some mobility between classes.
    • Sociologists who study stratification have identified open class systems and compared them to closed class systems.
    • These types of class systems are achievement-based economic system with social mobility and relations between classes.
    • Pictured is the middle class home of Steve Jobs' parents, where he founded the technology company that eventually made him one of the world's wealthiest people.