The middle class, in colloquial usage, consists of those who have some economic independence but not a great deal of social influence or power. Power is a measure of a person's ability to control the environment around them including the behavior of other people The term often encompasses merchants and professionals, bureaucrats, and some farmers and skilled workers.

Social hierarchies and their definitions vary. There are many factors that can define the middle class in a society, such as money, behaviour and heredity. In many countries, it is predominantly the amount of money that determines an individual's position in the social hierarchy. In other countries, social factors may have as strong an influence. These factors include education, professional or employment status, home ownership, or culture.

Connotations attached to the term also vary significantly between and within different countries. In the United States of America and Canada, usage is increasingly broad in scope, but almost always positive in intent (see American middle class). The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States.

History and evolution of the term

The middle class in this article refers to people neither at the top nor at the bottom of a social hierarchy. Social hierarchy is a multi-tiered pyramid-like social or functional structure having an apex as the centralization of power The term "middle class" has a long history and has had many, sometimes contradictory, meanings. It was once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry of Europe. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. Nobility is a government-privileged title which may be either hereditary (see Hereditary titles) or for a lifetime A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground While the nobility owned the countryside, and the peasantry worked the countryside, a new bourgeoisie (literally "town-dwellers") arose around mercantile functions in the city. This had the result that the middle class were often the wealthiest stratum of society (whereas today many take the term to refer by definition to the only-moderately wealthy. ) In France, the middle classes helped to drive the French Revolution

Descending from this distinction, the phrase "middle class" came to be used in the United Kingdom during the Industrial Revolution to describe the professional and business class, as distinct from both the titled nobility and the landed gentry on the one hand and the agricultural and (increasingly) industrial labourers on the other. The French Revolution (1789–1799 was a period of political and social upheaval in the History of France, during which the French governmental structure previously an The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located The Industrial Revolution was a period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when major changes in agriculture manufacturing and transportation had a profound effect on the The Peerage is a system of Titles of Nobility in the United Kingdom, part of the British honours system. Gentry generally refers to people of high Social class, especially in the past

Throughout the twentieth century, the titled nobility of the United Kingdom became less homogeneous. This was because of the increasingly eclectic background of new creations, most of which were politically driven by the so-called middle class, and the declining power of the House of Lords relative to the House of Commons after the Parliament Act 1911. The House of Lords is the second house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as "the Lords" The House of Commons' is the Lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords The Parliament Acts are two Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed in 1911 and 1949 that form part of the Constitution of the United So far as the hereditary element of class was concerned, the titled upper class became less numerous because of the near cessation of new hereditary creations after the Life Peerages Act 1958. The Life Peerages Act 1958 (6 & 7 Eliz II c 21 established the modern standards for the creation of Life peers by the monarch of the United Kingdom. This was coupled with the natural rate of extinction of existing hereditary titles and the near abolition of the hereditary element of the House of Lords at the end of the twentieth century. At this point, hereditary titles are in no way the key to being "upper class," although they do lend a distinctive panache within the upper class. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Tim Hames was able to write in The Times (on 9 October 2006): "In a world in which David Cameron, whose mother-in-law is Lady Astor, and George Osborne, the son of a baronet, can claim to be “upper middle class” and that claim passes without much challenge, the upper class has plainly been reduced to such a rump that it now consists exclusively of the Royal Family. The Times is a daily national Newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register. David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966 is a British Politician and the current leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of Her Majesty's Gideon George Oliver Osborne (born 23 May, 1971 in London) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, and has been A baronet (traditional abbreviation Bart, modern abbreviation Bt) or the rare female equivalent a baronetess (abbreviation Btss) is the holder "

Current usage

In early industrial capitalism, the middle class was defined primarily as white-collar workers—those who worked for wages (like all workers), but did so in conditions that were comfortable and safe compared to the conditions for blue-collar workers of the "working class. Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where White-collar worker refers to a salaried professional or an educated Worker who performs semi-professional office administrative and sales coordination tasks as opposed to Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types " The expansion of the phrase "middle class" in the United States appears to have been predicated in the 1970s by the decline of labour unions in the U. A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming S. and the entrance of formerly domestic women into the public workforce. A great number of pink-collar jobs arose, where people could avoid the dangerous conditions of blue-collar work and therefore claim to be "middle class" even if they were making far less money than a unionised blue-collar worker. A pink-collar worker works in a job that is considered traditionally female (these traditions generally harking back to the first half of the twentieth century

In the United States by the end of the twentieth century, more people identified themselves as middle class than as lower or "working" class, with insignificant numbers identifying themselves as upper class. In contrast, in the United Kingdom, in recent surveys up to two-thirds of Britons identify themselves as working class. This can reasonably be attributed to the wish to avoid the pejorative connotation described above. Nonetheless the British Labour Party, which grew out of the organized labour movement and originally drew almost all of its support from the working class, reinvented itself under Tony Blair in the 1990s as "New Labour," a party competing with the Conservative Party for the votes of the middle class as well as the working class. The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the Anthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair (born 6 May 1953 is a British Politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom.

The size of the middle class depends on how it is defined, whether by education, wealth, environment of upbringing, genetic relationships, social network, manners or values, etc. Wealth derives from the old English word "weal" which means "well-being Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is A social network is a Social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations that are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency such as These are all related, though far from deterministically dependent. The following factors are often ascribed in modern usage to a "middle class":

• Achievement of tertiary education. Tertiary education, also referred to as third stage third level and' post-secondary education', is the educational level following the completion of a school providing
• Holding professional qualifications, including academics, lawyers, engineers, doctors, and clergymen regardless of their leisure or wealth. A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law as an attorney, Counsel or Solicitor; a person An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of Engineering. A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given Religion.
• Belief in bourgeois values, such as high rates of house or long-term lease ownership and jobs which are perceived to be "secure. House generally refers to a Shelter or Building that is a Dwelling or place for Habitation by Human beings. Leasing is a process by which a firm can obtain the use of a certain fixed assets for which it must pay a series of contractual periodic tax deductable payments Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive rights and control over Property, which may be an object, land/real estate, Intellectual property Job security is the probability that an individual will keep his or her job; a job with a high level of job security is such that a person with the job would have a small chance "
• Lifestyle. In the United Kingdom, social status has historically been linked less directly to wealth than in the United States, and has also been judged by pointers such as accent, manners, place of education, occupation and the class of a person's family, circle of friends and acquaintances. In Linguistics, an accent is a manner of Pronunciation of a language
• Cultural identification. Often in the United States, the middle class are the most eager participants in pop culture. Popular culture (or pop culture) is the Culture — patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and importance — The second generation of new immigrants will often enthusiastically forsake their traditional folk culture as a sign of having arrived in the middle class. Immigration refers to the movement of people among countries While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels modern immigration implies long-term Folk culture refers to the localized Lifestyle of a Culture. It is usually handed down through Oral tradition, relates to a sense of Community

Marxism and the middle class

Marxism does not necessarily see the groups described above as the middle class. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The middle class is not a fixed category within Marxism, and debate continues as to the content of this social group.

Marxism defines social classes not according to the wealth or prestige of their members, but according to their relationship with the means of production: a noble owns land; a capitalist owns capital; a worker has the ability to work and must seek employment in order to make a living. Means Of Production is a compilation of Aim 's early 12" and EP releases recorded between 1995 and 1998 However, between the rulers and the ruled there is most often a group of people, often called a middle class, which lacks a specific relationship. Historically, during feudalism, the bourgeoisie were that middle class. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed People often describe the contemporary bourgeoisie as the "middle class from a Marxist point of view", but this is incorrect. Marxism states that the bourgeoisie are the ruling class (or upper class) in a capitalist society.

Marxists vigorously debate the exact composition of the middle class under capitalism. Some describe a "co-ordinating class" which implements capitalism on behalf of the capitalists, composed of the petit bourgeoisie, professionals and managers. Petit-bourgeoisie (or petty bourgeois through Folk etymology) is a French term that originally referred to the members of the lower middle social-classes This article is about people called professionals For the Movie, see The Professional or Leon. Management (covering theory practice and scope of management and Manager' (covering the people who manage might help clarify and systematise Others dispute this, freely using the term "middle class" to refer to affluent white-collar workers as described above (even though, in Marxist terms, they are part of the proletariat—the working class). The proletariat (from Latin la ''proles'' "offspring" is a term used to identify a lower Social class; a member of such a class is proletarian Still others (for example, Council communists) allege that there is a class comprising intellectuals, technocrats and managers which seeks power in its own right. Council communism is a Far-left movement originating in Germany and the Netherlands in the 1920s This last group of communists allege that such technocratic middle classes seized power and government for themselves in Soviet-style societies (see co-ordinatorism). The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Coordinatorism is a term for detrimental effects of individuals taking on coordinating roles as part of any effort at organisation

See also

• Underclass
• Working class
• Lower middle class
• Upper middle class
• Upper class
• American middle class
• Black Middle Class
• Bourgeoisie
• Underclass
• Classlessness
• Political Donor Class
• Nouveau riche (New Money)
• Old Money
• Producerism
• Bourgeois personality
• Social structure of the United States
• Household income in the United States
• Personal income in the United States

References

• Brian W. The contemporary concept of the underclass is a sanitized term for what was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the undeserving poor and may have been coined by American sociologist Working class is a term used in academic Sociology and in ordinary conversation to describe depending on context and speaker those employed in specific fields or types In developed nations across the earth the lower middle class, is a sub-division of the greater Middle class which constitutes by far the largest socio-economic class The upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the Social group constituted by higher-status members of the Middle class. Is a concept in Sociology that refers to the group of people at the top of a Social hierarchy. The American middle class is an ambiguously defined Social class in the United States. The black middle class, sometimes referred to as Buppie, refers to African Americans who occupy a middle class status within the American class structure The contemporary concept of the underclass is a sanitized term for what was known in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the undeserving poor and may have been coined by American sociologist This article is translated from and may fit related articles there better. Nouveau riche ( French for "new rich" or new money, refers to a person who has acquired considerable Wealth within his or her Old Money is a term that refers to the established Upper class. Producerism, sometimes referred to as "producer radicalism" refers to a syncretic ideology of populist The term bourgeois is a social label applied to an individual who is seen as typical of the middle classes, both upper and lower valuing materialism and being respectable There is considerable controversy regarding social class in the United States, and it remains a concept with many competing definitions Household income is a measure of current private income commonly used by the United States government and private institutions Personal income is a measure utilized by the United States government particularly the Department of Commerce, to determine the income of individuals Cashell: Who Are the “Middle Class”?, CRS Report for the Congress, March 20, 2007