Middle Class

Middle Class

Individuals who fall between the working class and the upper class within a societal hierarchy. In Western cultures, persons in the middle class tend to have a higher proportion of college degrees than those in the working class, have more income available for consumption and may own property. Those in the middle class often are employed as professionals, managers and civil servants.

The word "middle" may be misleading in that it suggests that those in the middle class have earnings within the middle of the population's income distribution, which may not be the case.

Karl Marx referred to the middle class as part of the bourgeoisie when he described capitalism. The term itself has shifted in meaning over time, having once referred to persons who had the means to rival nobles.


Investment dictionary. . 2012.

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  • middle-class — middle class …   Dictionary of sociology

  • middle class — middle class, middle classes In many ways this is the least satisfactory term which attempts in one phrase to define a class sharing common work and market situations. The middle stratum of industrial societies has expanded so much in the last… …   Dictionary of sociology

  • middle class — ♦♦♦ middle classes 1) N COUNT COLL: usu the N The middle class or middle classes are the people in a society who are not working class or upper class. Business people, managers, doctors, lawyers, and teachers are usually regarded as middle class …   English dictionary

  • Middle class — Middle Mid dle (m[i^]d d l), a. [OE. middel, AS. middel; akin to D. middel, OHG. muttil, G. mittel. [root]271. See {Mid}, a.] [1913 Webster] 1. Equally distant from the extreme either of a number of things or of one thing; mean; medial; as, the… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • middle-class — adjective * belonging or relating to the middle class: a young poet from a middle class home a. middle class attitudes and behavior are conservative ones that people consider to be typical of the middle class: people with middle class tastes …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • middle-class — adj 1.) typical of people who are educated and work in professional jobs ▪ a middle class family ▪ They lived a comfortable middle class life. 2.) middle class attitudes and ideas are typical of middle class people and are often concerned with… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • middle-class — adj 1.) typical of people who are educated and work in professional jobs ▪ a middle class family ▪ They lived a comfortable middle class life. 2.) middle class attitudes and ideas are typical of middle class people and are often concerned with… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • middle class — n the social class that includes people who are educated and work in professional jobs, for example teachers or managers →↑lower class, upper class ↑upper class, working class ↑working class ▪ This led to the creation of a new, affluent middle… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • middle class — n the social class that includes people who are educated and work in professional jobs, for example teachers or managers →↑lower class, upper class ↑upper class, working class ↑working class ▪ This led to the creation of a new, affluent middle… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • Middle Class — Datos generales Origen Santa Ana, California, USA Información artística Género(s) Punk rock, hardcore punk …   Wikipedia Español

  • middle-class — middle classness, n. /mid l klas , klahs /, adj. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the middle class; bourgeois: middle class taste; middle class morality. [1890 95] * * * …   Universalium

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