What do most of the people today call the "middle class"?

[UnknownPerson]

What do most of the people today think the middle class is? Why does a large portion of the people, even those who are apparently proletarian, call themselves 'the middle class'? Why is it assumed that the working class is 'physical laborers'?

[Nox]

I guess in their eyes, it means workers who live a quite decent life.

[Commissar Rykov]

I guess in their eyes, it means workers who live a quite decent life.
Exactly, since it has no real meaning it is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to try and keep a two class system from being obvious. Two class systems are historically unstable this is why the Capitalist system has tried to create a third class in hopes of dividing the lower class so that the ruling class can accumulate more wealth and thus be able to defend itself better once the people figure out the scam. When you ask someone what Middle Class means they can never provide a scientific or specific answer because there isn't one.

[Apoi_Viitor]

The terms lower class, middle class, and upper class refer to different income brackets. This is different than Marxism, which separates classes based on relations to the means of production.

[Tenka]

Cenk Uygur, "Ugly American" (as he once referred to himself with a modicum of humour and, yet, pride), host of the youtube show 'The Young Turks', does never fail to refer to the working class exclusively as "the middle class"; I always thought it strange and annoying, but he probably uses it to pretend solidarity between comfortable, pro-capitalist (but ever so slightly left-leaning) liberals such as himself and the working poor.

[Zanthorus]

Why does a large portion of the people, even those who are apparently proletarian, call themselves 'the middle class'?

There is an interesting article by Aufheben on housing in the UK which deals with this question:


In this article we shall confine ourselves to placing the current housing situation in its historical context. In doing so it will be necessary to employ the rather controversial category of the ‘middle classes’. The notion of the ‘middle class’ is often criticised as a sociological category, which too often escapes an adequate and well-founded definition. This is undoubtedly true. However, this does not mean that the notion of a middle class is merely an illusion or merely an ideological construct made up by sociologists. The notion of the ‘middle class’ is drawn and systemised by bourgeois sociologists from the real perceptions and experiences of people living in contemporary capitalist society. For us the middle class is a category of real appearance that emerges at a more concrete level of analysis than the more essential relations of production, which give rise to the categories of capitalist and proletarian. As such, middle class, and its opposition to the category working class, is constituted by a complex of historically contingent factors, many of which lie outside the immediate process of capitalist production. As a consequence, the definition of middle class varies across time and place. As we shall argue, in Britain during the twentieth century housing tenure became an important, but far from exhaustive material factor in the constitution of a distinct middle class, which had important political and ideological effects.

The rest of the piece (http://libcom.org/library/aufheben/aufheben-13-2005/the-housing-question) is worth a read as well.

[Nox]

Exactly, since it has no real meaning it is nothing more than smoke and mirrors to try and keep a two class system from being obvious. Two class systems are historically unstable this is why the Capitalist system has tried to create a third class in hopes of dividing the lower class so that the ruling class can accumulate more wealth and thus be able to defend itself better once the people figure out the scam. When you ask someone what Middle Class means they can never provide a scientific or specific answer because there isn't one.

Yes, there isn't always a clear boundary between who is in the working class and who is borgeoisie (did I finally manage to spell it right?), I guess that unsureness is where the term 'middle class' comes from.

[rockstars must die]

I think the liberal democrats talking show hosts refer to themselves as the "middle class" is because a majority of the listners feel they are middle class or aspire to become middleclass. It seems to me there are alienating those whom are not a part of the middle class like the working poor. Too many damn divisions

[syndicat]

it depends. when working people speak of themselves or others as "middle class," or when union bureaucrats talk about "defending the middle class," they are referring the better paid part of the working class, such as those who have unionized jobs, where the unions haven't yet totally caved to the downward spiral...and those jobs are disappearing.

politicians and newspaper pundits who use "middle class" conveniently slide this over to a broader conception that includes the classes of managers and high end professionals and small business owners. now, small business owners, managers, high end professionals like corporate lawyers and industrial engineers are people who are in an antagonistic relation to the workers under them...they're part of an alien class...I call it the "bureaucratic class."

some leftists use "middle class" to refer to the classes between the working class and the dominant capitalist elite....managers, professionals, small business owners.

so there you have three different meanings for "middle class". the first meaning, used by working people, refers to your ability to live a certain lifestyle...owning a house, owning a new car and so on.

[CAleftist]

It can mean anything really, from better paid members of the proletariat, to the simple access of home ownership and a "decent" standard of living, to the petit-bourgeoisie.

Additionally, many people who are clearly either rich or poor refer to themselves as "middle class."