How do you define Working Class, Middle class and Ruling Class?

[Zoid789]

What is the definition of a Working Class, Middle Class and Ruling Class in modern times and how do you tell the difference between them?

[syndicat]

There are a number of existing threads where this question has been discussed.

Working class within capitalism are those who must seek out work from employers in order to survive, are subordinate to management, and do not manage other workers.

Capitalists are those who own the means of production and employ other people as workers, subordinate to the management of their firm.

Capitalists who own small businesses where they directly manage workers and do much of the technical work like accounting or engineering are usually regarded as one of the "middle classes". The dominant capitalists, who dominate and rule over the society, are the owners of the big firms, banks, etc. This is the ruling class. They are separated from the working class by the layers of managers, lawyers etc who they hire.

There is also another "middle class" that consists of managers and high-end professionals who work directly with management as advisers and in the management of the firm (corporate lawyers, industrial engineers who design jobs, finance officers etc) and also publiic sector managers, officers in the military and police, judges etc. Various labels have been used for this class, but I call them the bureaucratic class.

This group is usually affluent enough to own some property but they live from their work, and are hired by employers. What distinguishes this middle class from the working class is their position of power over workers, through controlling decision-making and expertise related to decision-making, that is, their position in a bureaucratic hierarchy in the companies or the state.

Also, any given class also consists not only of its economically active members, but also their children, dependents (such as housewives) and people who retired from roles characteristic of that class, etc.

[Thirsty Crow]

I'd define the "middle class" as "a mystification of bourgoeis ideology" since I don't think that the basic social experience and life prospects in a capitalist society, as well as the group differences arising from it, are based on income.

The ruling class is the capitalist class - the class of employers, of owners of the means of production, who are dependant on wage labour in order that their capital might be accumulated in every cycle of capital reproduction. But, I think that the group of people that syndicat defined as part of the "middle class" are also a part of the ruling class - supervisors and managers, who control and direct labour at the level of the workplace, and who enjoy greater prospects for becoming part of the capitalist class.
The profession of politicians also falls unto this category, as they basically function as public figures with vested interest to keep the process of capital accumulation going (which also includes areas of administraton of public affairs such as healthcare).

The working class does not own any kind of productive property (that is, property productive of value) and has only their own labour power to sell as a commodity on the capitalist labour market, in exchange for a wage which offers us means of survival. The working class is inherently antagonistic to capital which is due to the fact that the accumulation process rests on the exploitation of workers, who surrender part of their labour time during a day to the capitalist.

EDIT: apologies, I didn't realize that syndicat actually used the term "bureaucratic class" in relation to managers and high end professionals in private capitalist firms.