How many people in each level of U.S. society?

[The Incorruptible]

Upper class---5 %

Middle Class 20%

Working class 75%

More or less right, right?

I got this data while I was exploring on the web.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class

[More Fire for the People]

Well there isn't a real upper, middle, and lower class in the sense that the US census uses. There are essentially three classes under industrialised capitalism: the working class, the petty-bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie.

The working class sells their labor-power to the capitalists class.
The petty-bourgeoisie is more diverse. Some members of the p-b make a living off of their own work without selling it capitalists. Some members of the p-b both own a business and work at it too.
The bourgeoisie own their own businesses and make money off of the labor-power of workers.

I would say nine-tenths or eight-tenths of the US population fall under the category of working class.

[Janus]

Middle class is a very ambiguous term as it is a reference to someone's salary and social standing than his or her relation to the means of production.

I suppose that the figures mentioned basically equate middle class with petty bourgeois though.

[Sadena Meti]

For detail non-right-left info on wealth distribution in the USA:
http://www.pwin.org/

[Knowledge 6 6 6]

I would think the middle-class is the largest class in America. There are different levels within the middle class - ie. Upper-middle and lower-middle. I doubt there are 75% of Americans in the working class.

It's hard to pinpoint where really these boundaries occur, but I'd assume most Americans fall in some level of the middle class.

[Floyce White]

You may be interested in my article Superiority or Solidarity (http://www.geocities.com/antiproperty/index.html#A17).

[Sadena Meti]

Originally posted by Knowledge 6 6 [email protected] 9 2006, 07:39 PM
I would think the middle-class is the largest class in America.
A major myth in both the USA and Europe. "We're all middle class now, aren't we?"

Look at the distribution of weath. There is no doubt there that the working class is in the majority. Even in the land of plenty, 20% of the population has a total net wealth of $0 or less. (and this is not from people maxing out their credit cards for fun)

[Knowledge 6 6 6]

What would you then define as 'working class' as opposed to upper class?

I think the author of that article is doing a great injustice to people's ability to progress and earn more money. I mean, if someone at work works harder than another and gets rewarded for that by an increased bonus or better position at that job, are they not entitled to that?

I mean, it seems that the author seems to be degrading their work and blaming capitalism for all of it - as if the individual doesn't exist anymore.

And, to say the poor can never voice their opinions the author is again glazing over revolutionaries like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Patrice Lamumba and thousands of other government employees as well as members of political parties all aimed to help the poor.

What would he say about Hugo Chavez of native Amerindian decent or Evo Morales, a Cocoa Farmer in Bolivia? Do they not represent the poor?

[Amusing Scrotum]

Originally posted by Socialist Worker Online+--> (Socialist Worker Online)If you accept the Marxist definition of class, then out of the roughly 145 million people who are considered to be part of the U.S. workforce, only about 2 to 3 percent are part of the capitalist class--in the sense that they exercise substantial control over the means of production or the important institutions of society. Some 70 to 75 percent of the workforce belongs to the working class, and the remainder are part of the middle class.[/b]

http://www.socialistworker.org/2003-2/464/...Classless.shtml (http://www.socialistworker.org/2003-2/464/464_06_Classless.shtml)

So, funnily enough, if you just change the names of the categories, then the figures provided at the beginning of this thread are about right.


Lennie Jusche
Yeah this is more of the nonsense use of the term "middle class" which is popular amongst the bourgeoisie in the U.S. It helps to blur actual class divisions.

The term itself doesn't "blur actual class divisions"....the methods and definitions used to work out classes do that. In and of itself, the term "middle class" is the English translation of the term "petty-bourgeois"....just like the term "capitalist" is the translation of the term "bourgeois". Heck, even the term working class is an un-Marxian term in the traditionalist sense.