There is considerable controversy regarding
social classSocial classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political economists and social historians...
in the United States, and it remains a concept with many competing definitions. Many Americans believe in a simple three-class model that includes the "rich", the "
middle classThe American middle class is an ambiguously defined social class in the United States. While the concept remains largely ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use, contemporary sociologists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class...
", and the "
poorThe most common measure of poverty in the United States is the "poverty threshold" set by the U.S. government. This measure recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society. The official threshold is adjusted for inflation using...
." More complex models that have been proposed describe as many as a dozen class levels; while still others deny the very existence, in the strict sense, of "
social classSocial classes are the hierarchical arrangements of people in society as economic or cultural groups. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political economists and social historians...
" in American society. Most definitions of class structure group people according to
wealthWealth in the United States is commonly measured in terms of net worth which is the sum of all assets, including home equity minus all liabilities. For example, a household in possession of an $800,000 home, $5,000 in mutual funds, a $45,000 IRA would have assets totaling $850,000...
,
incomeIncome in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The differences between household and personal income is considerable since 42% of households, the majority of those in the top two quintiles with incomes exceeding $57,658, now...
,
educationThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
, type of
occupationOccupation may refer to:In business:*Employment, a person's job or work in service of an employer*Profession, an occupation requiring specialized knowledge*Vocation, an occupation pursued more for altruistic benefit rather than for income...
, and membership in a specific subculture or social network.
Dennis GilbertDennis Gilbert is professor and chair of sociology at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. He holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and has taught at the Universidad Catlica in Lima, Peru, Cornell University and joined Hamilton college in 1976. He has published a variety of sociology books,...
, William Thompson, Joseph Hickey, and James Henslin have proposed class systems with six distinct social classes. These class models feature an
upper or capitalist classThe American upper class describes the sociological concept pertaining to the "top layer" of society in the United States. This social class is most commonly described as consisting of those with great wealth and power and may also be referred to as the Capitalist Class or simply as The Rich...
consisting of the rich and powerful, an upper middle class consisting of highly educated and
well-paidAffluence in the United States refers to an individual's or household's state of being in an economically favorable position in contrast to a given reference group...
professionals, a lower middle class consisting of
collegeCollege is a term most often used today to denote degree awarding tertiary educational institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of colleagues, for example, an electoral college, a College of Arms or the College of Cardinals...
-educated professional sales and office assistants, a working class constituted by clerical and blue collar workers whose work is highly routinized, and a lower class divided between the working
poorThe most common measure of poverty in the United States is the "poverty threshold" set by the U.S. government. This measure recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society. The official threshold is adjusted for inflation using...
and underclass.
A classless society?
Some academics consider American society sociologically and economically fragmented in such a manner that no clear class distinctions can be made. This means that there are no pronounced breaks in socioeconomic strata, which makes class division highly subjective and disputable. Others, such as sociologist Dennis Gilbert, dispute the concept of a well-mixed society, and claim that distinct social networks can be identified for each class. W. Lloyd Warner also asserts the existence of class markers:
Warner asserts that social class is as old as civilization itself and has been present in nearly every society from before the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
, through medieval times, and to the modern-day United States. He believes that complex societies such as the United States need an equally complex social hierarchy.
Markers
Some definitions of class look only at numerical measures such as wealth or income. Others take into account qualitative factors, such as education, culture, and social status. There is no consensus on which of these variables is essential and which are merely common correlates. It is also disputed whether sharp lines can be drawn; one point of view in the debate:
Social status
Social class is sometimes presented as a description of how the society has distributed its members among positions of varying importance, influence, and prestige. In these models, certain occupations are considered to be desirable and influential, while others are considered to be menial, repetitive, and unpleasant. (In some cases, non-occupational roles such as a parent or volunteer mentor, are also considered.) Higher-class jobs require more skill and education.
Some sociologists consider the higher income and prestige of higher-class jobs to simply be incentives to obtain the skills necessary to perform important work. This is an important mechanism in the economic theory of
capitalismCapitalism is an economic and social system in which the means of production are privately controlled; labor, goods and capital are traded in a market; profits are distributed to owners or invested in technologies and industries; and wages are paid to labor...
, and is compatible with the notion that class is mutable and determined by a combination of choices and opportunities.
In other cases, class or status is inherited. For example, being the son or daughter of a
wealthy individualAffluence in the United States refers to an individual's or household's state of being in an economically favorable position in contrast to a given reference group...
, may carry a higher status and different cultural connotations than being a member of
nouveau richeNouveau riche , or new money, refers to a person who has acquired considerable wealth within his or her generation. This term is generally to emphasize that the individual was previously part of a lower socioeconomic rank, and that such wealth has provided the means for the acquisition of goods or...
("new money"). Those taking the functionalist approach to sociology and economics view social classes as components essential for the survival of complex societies such as American society.
Income
Income in the United StatesIncome in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The differences between household and personal income is considerable since 42% of households, the majority of those in the top two quintiles with incomes exceeding $57,658, now...
is most commonly measured by U.S. Census Bureau in terms of either household or individual and remains one of the most prominent indicators of class status. As 42% of all households, 76% of those in the top
quintileA quintile is one of the four quantiles that divide the units of a frequency distribution into five classes each containing the fifth of the total number of units such that the values corresponding to the units in one class are less than the first quintile, those in a second class are greater than...
s, had two income earners the discrepancy between household and personal income is quite considerable. In 2005 the top 15% of income earners made $62,500 or more, while 18% of households had incomes over $100,000. Personal income is largely the result of scarcity. As individuals who hold higher status positions tend to possess rare skills or assume positions society deems very essential, have higher incomes. Overall the median household income was $46,326 in 2005 while the median personal income (including only those above the age of 25) was $32,140.
Per capita household income, the income a household is able to allocate to each member of the household is also an important variable in determining a given household's standard of living. A high household income may be offset by a large household size; thus, resulting in a low per capita household income. In 2005, the median household income per capita was $24,672.
As mentioned above, income is one of the most prominent features of social class; it is not one of its causes. In other words, income does not determine the status of an individual or household but rather reflects on that status. Income and prestige are the incentives provided by society in order to fill needed positions with the most qualified and motivated personnel possible.
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
has used income quintiles to define class. It has assigned the quintiles from lowest to highest as lower class,
lower middle classIn developed nations across the earth, the lower middle class is a sub-division of the greater middle class which constitutes the largest socio-economic class...
,
middle classThe middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the...
,
upper middle classThe upper middle class is a sociological concept referring to the social group constituted by higher-status members of the middle class. This is in contrast to the term lower middle class used for the group at the opposite end of the middle class stratum and the regular middle class. There is...
, and
upper classIn sociology an upper class is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area, but only to the extent that the power of the state can intervene in free exchange or distort...
. These definitions equate class with income, permitting people to move from class to class as their income changes.
Dual income controversy
IncomeHousehold income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions. That measure counts all the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments,...
is one of the most commonly used attributes of a household to determine its class status. The relationship between income, which mostly arises from the scarcity of a certain skill, may however, prove to be more complex than initially perceived. While the idea is that income reflects status, household income may just be the product of two or more incomes. In 2005, 42% of American households had two income earners. The vast majority (77%) of households in the top
quintileA quintile is one of the four quantiles that divide the units of a frequency distribution into five classes each containing the fifth of the total number of units such that the values corresponding to the units in one class are less than the first quintile, those in a second class are greater than...
had two or more income earners. This means that the majority of household income in the top quintile are the result of two income earners pooling their resources, establishing a close link between perceived
affluenceAffluence in the United States refers to an individual's or household's state of being in an economically favorable position in contrast to a given reference group...
and the number of income earners in a given household. This raises the question of whether or not the combination of incomes results in higher social status. Of course, there is no definite answer as class is a vague sociological concept.
Sociologist Dennis Gilbert states that it is possible for households to out-earn other households over higher class standing through increasing their number of income earners. He furthermore states that household size also played an essential role, as the standard of living for two persons living off one upper middle class personal income may very well be higher than that of a household with four members living off two working class personal incomes. The combination of two or more incomes, allow for households to increase their income substantially without moving higher on the occupational ladder or attaining higher
educational degreesThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
. Thus it is important to remember that the favorable economic position of households in the top two quintiles is in some cases the result of combined income, rather than demand for a single worker.
Education
Tertiary educationTertiary education, also referred to as third stage, third level, and post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, or gymnasium...
(or "higher education") is required for many middle-class professions, depending on how the term middle class is to be defined. Tertiary education is rarely free, but the costs vary widely: tuition at elite private colleges often exceeds $120,000 for a four-year program. On the other hand, public colleges and universities typically charge much less (for state residents), and many, such as the
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University system...
system, rival the elite private schools in reputation and quality. Also,
scholarshipA scholarship is an award of access to an institution, or a financial aid award for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s offered by universities and government do exist, and low-interest loans are available. Still, the average cost of education, by all accounts, is increasing. The
attainment of post-secondary and graduate degreesThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
is the perhaps most important feature of a
middle and upper middle classThe American middle class is an ambiguously defined social class in the United States. While the concept remains largely ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use, contemporary sociologists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class...
person with the university being regarded as the most essential institution and gatekeeper of the professional middle class.
Educational attainmentThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
is also directly linked to income.
In 2005, the vast majority of those with
doctorate and professional degreesThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
were among the nation's top 15% of
income earnersPersonal income is a measure of individual income used by the United States government, particularly the Department of Commerce. It is most often only applied to those who are either above the age of 15, 18, or 25 and are considered to be members of the labor force...
. Those with
bachelor degreesThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
had
incomesPersonal income is a measure of individual income used by the United States government, particularly the Department of Commerce. It is most often only applied to those who are either above the age of 15, 18, or 25 and are considered to be members of the labor force...
considerably above the national median while the median income for those with some
college educationThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
remained near the national median. According to U.S. Census Bureau, 9% of persons aged 25 or older had a graduate degree, 27.9% had a Bachelor's degree or more with 53% having attended college. With 85% of the population having graduated high school, it becomes apparent that the
average AmericanAverage Joe was an American reality television show broadcast on the NBC beginning in 2003. There were a total of four seasons, the first two following the original show premise, and the last two bringing back contestants from prior seasons....
does not have a college degree, but is likely to have attended college for some time and has graduated high school. Overall, educational attainment serves as the perhaps most essential class feature of most Americans, being directly linked to
incomePersonal income is a measure of individual income used by the United States government, particularly the Department of Commerce. It is most often only applied to those who are either above the age of 15, 18, or 25 and are considered to be members of the labor force...
and occupation.
| Year 2005 |
Less than 9th grade |
No high school diploma |
High school graduate |
Some college |
Associates degree |
Bachelor's degree |
Bachelor's degree or more |
Graduate degree |
Masters degree |
Professional degree |
Doctorate |
| Percentage in Group |
6.1% |
8.4% |
31.7% |
16.7% |
8.73% |
18.3% |
27.9% |
9.7% |
6.8% |
1.6% |
1.3% |
| Median personal income |
$17,422 |
$20,321 |
$26,505 |
$31,054 |
$35,009 |
$43,143 |
$49,303 |
X |
$52,390 |
$82,473 |
$70,853 |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2005
Culture
Social classes feature their own sub-cultures and have therefore developed slightly different manners of socializing their offspring. Due to class mobility individuals may also assimilate to the culture of another class when ascending or descending in the social order. However, one does need to remember that all social classes in the United States, except the
upper classThe American upper class describes the sociological concept pertaining to the "top layer" of society in the United States. This social class is most commonly described as consisting of those with great wealth and power and may also be referred to as the Capitalist Class or simply as The Rich...
, consist of tens of millions of people. Thus social classes form social groups so large that they feature considerable diversity within and any statement regarding a given social class' culture needs to be seen as a broad generalization. Since 1970, sociologists such as Paula LeMasters and Melvin Kohl have set out repeatedly to research class based cultures. Class culture has been shown to have a strong influence on the mundane lives of people, affecting everything from the manner in which they raise their children, initiation and maintenance of romantic relationship to the color in which they paint their houses. The strongest cultural differences seem to run along the professional middle class-working class divide. A recent increase in residential class segregation and the overall tendency of individual to associate mostly with those of equal standing as themselves has further strengthened class differences.
Parental views are the perhaps most essential factor in determining the socialization process which shapes new members of society. The values and standards used in child rearing are commonly closely related to the parent's occupational status. Parents from the professional class tend to raise their children to become curious independent thinkers, while working class parents raise their children to have a more communal perspective with a strong respect for authority. Middle class parents tend to emphasize internal standards and values while working class parents emphasize external values. Sociologist Dennis Gilbert uses a list of values identified by Melvin Kohn to be typical of the professional middle and working class. Middle class parents values for their children and themselves included: "Consideration of Others, Self-Control, Curiosity, Happiness, Honesty, Tolerance of
NonconformityNonconformity may refer to:* Nonconformity , a memoir by Nelson Algren, published posthumously in 1992.* Nonconformity , a term in quality management* A type of unconformity in geology...
, Open to Innovation... Self-Direction." This contrasted with surveyed working class individuals, who reported: "Manners, Obedience... Neatness, Cleanliness, Strong Punishment of Deviant Behavior, Stock to Old Ways, People not Trustworthy... Strict Leadership" as values for themselves and their children. There is a strong correlation between these values and the occupational activities of the respondents. The job characteristics of middle class respondents included:
"Work Independently, Varied Tasks, Work with People or Data," versus working class parents of reported
"Close Supervision and Repetitive Work..."
Gender roles are also viewed differently by those in the higher and lower social classes.
Middle classThe American middle class is an ambiguously defined social class in the United States. While the concept remains largely ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use, contemporary sociologists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class...
individuals, who were more open towards "nonconformity" and emphasized individual self-direction as well as critical thinking, were also less stringent in their application of gender roles. Working class individuals, on the other hand, emphasized gender roles. While working class people have more and more assimilated to middle class culture regarding their view and application of gender roles, differences remain. Professional class people are more likely to have an egalitarian distribution of work in their household with both spouses being equals in heterosexual marriages. According to Dennis Gilbert, "College life, generally a prologue to upper-middle class careers, delays marriage and encourages informal, relatively egalitarian association between men and women."
Academic models
The following are reported income-, education-, and occupation-based terms for specific classes commonly used by sociologists.
Upper class
This term is applied to a wide array of elite groups existing in the United States. The term commonly includes the so-called "blue bloods" (multi-generational wealth combined with leadership of high society) such as the
AstorThe Astor family is a significant American family of German descent notable for their prominence in business, society, and politics.-Founding Family Members:John Jacob Astor and his brother George, The Astor family is a significant American family of German descent notable for their prominence in...
or
Roosevelt familiesThe Roosevelt family is a prominent American political family of Dutch descent that produced two United States Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D...
. There is disagreement over whether the "
nouveau richeNouveau riche , or new money, refers to a person who has acquired considerable wealth within his or her generation. This term is generally to emphasize that the individual was previously part of a lower socioeconomic rank, and that such wealth has provided the means for the acquisition of goods or...
" should be included as members of the upper class or whether this term should exclusively be used for established families. Twentieth century sociologist W. Lloyd Warner divided the
upper classIn sociology an upper class is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area, but only to the extent that the power of the state can intervene in free exchange or distort...
into two sections: the "upper-upper class" and "lower-upper class". The former includes established upper-class families while the latter includes those with
great wealthA billionaire is a person who has a net worth of at least one billion units of a currency, usually the US Dollar, Euro or the Pound. Forbes Magazine updates a complete list of US Dollar billionaires around the world every year.- Regions by net worth :...
. As there is no defined lower threshold for the upper class it is difficult, if not outright impossible, to determine the exact number or percentage of American households that could be identified as being members of the upper-class(es).
IncomeHousehold income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions. That measure counts all the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments,...
and
wealthWealth in the United States is commonly measured in terms of net worth which is the sum of all assets, including home equity minus all liabilities. For example, a household in possession of an $800,000 home, $5,000 in mutual funds, a $45,000 IRA would have assets totaling $850,000...
statistics may serve as a helpful guideline as they can be measured in a more objective manner. In 2005, approximately one and half percent (1.5%) of households in the United States had incomes exceeding $250,000 with the top 5% having incomes exceeding $157,000. Furthermore only 2.6% of household held assets (excluding home equity) of more than one-million dollars. One could therefore fall under the assumption that less than five percent of American society are members of rich households. The richest 1% of the American population owns as much as the combined wealth of the bottom 90% , or perhaps even more .
Members of the upper class control and own significant portions of the corporate America and may exercise indirect power through the investment of capital. The high salaries and the potential for amassing great wealth through stock options have greatly increased for the power and visibility of the "corporate elite". Many sociologists and commentators, however, make a distinction between the upper class (in the sense of those in the families of inherited wealth) and the corporate elite. By implication, the upper class is held in lower regard (as inheritors of idle wealth) than the self-made millionaires in prestigious occupations.
Yet another important feature of the upper class is that of inherited privilege. While most Americans, including those in the upper-middle class need to actively maintain their status, upper class persons do not need to work in order to maintain their status. Status tends to be passed on from generation to generation without each generation having to re-certify its status. Overall, the upper class is the financially best compensated and one of the most influential socio-economic classes in American society.
Corporate elite
The high salaries and, especially, the potential wealth through stock options, has supported the term
corporate elite. Top executives, including
Chief Executive OfficerA chief executive officer or chief executive is one of the highest-ranking corporate officers or administrators in charge of total management...
s, are among the financially best compensated occupations in the United States. The median annual earnings for a CEO in the United States were $140,350 (exceeding the income of more than 90% of U.S. households).
The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal is an English-language international daily newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, in New York City, with Asian and European editions. As of 2007, it has a worldwide daily circulation of more than 2 million, with approximately 931,000...
reports the median compensation for CEOs of 350 major corporations was $6,000,000 in 2005 with most the money coming from stock options. In New York City in 2005, the median income (including bonuses) of a corporate "
chief operating officerA chief operating officer or chief operations officer is a corporate officer responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the corporation and for operations management...
" (the #2 job) was $377,000. The total compensation for a "top IT officer" in charge of information technology in New York City was $218,000. Thus even below the CEO level of
top corporationsThe Fortune 500 is an annual list compiled and published by Fortune magazine that ranks the top 500 U.S. closely held and public corporations as ranked by their gross revenue after adjustments made by Fortune to exclude the impact of excise taxes companies collect. The list includes publicly and...
, financial compensation will usually be sufficient to propel a households with a mere one income earner in the top 1%. In 2005 only 1.5% of American households had incomes above $250,000 with many reaching this level only through having two income earners.
Many politically powerful people make money before coming to office, but in general the political power elite have official incomes in the $150,000 to $185,000 range; members of Congress are paid $165,000, and are effectively required to have a residence in their district as well as one in Washington.
Upper middle
This class consists of highly educated salaried professionals whose work is largely self-directed. Many have graduate degrees with educational attainment serving as the main distinguishing feature of this class. Household incomes commonly may exceed $100,000 (
€The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
75,403 or
£The pound sterling , often simply called the pound, is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory...
67,462), with some smaller one-income earners household having incomes in the high 5-figure range. Salaries are commonly in the high five-figure range. Members of this class commonly hold advanced academic degrees and are often involved with professional organizations. Due to the nature of professional and managerial occupations, the upper middle class tends to have great influence over the course of society. Occupations which are essential to the forming of public opinion such as journalists, authors, commentators, professors, scientists, and advertisers are largely upper middle class. The very well-educated, are seen as trend setters with movements such as the anti-smoking movement, pro-fitness movement, organic food movement, and environmentalism being largely indigenous to this particular socio-economic grouping. Education serves as perhaps the most important value and also the most dominant entry barrier of the upper middle class.
Sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert, Willam Thompson, and Joseph Hickey estimate the upper middle class to constitute roughly 15% of the population (or roughly three in every twenty persons). The main hallmark and most distinguishing feature of this class is its high educational attainment. Using the 15% figure model may conclude that the American upper middle class consist of professionals making more than $67,500 (
€The euro is the official currency of 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union . The states, known collectively as the Eurozone, are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain...
44,468 or
£The pound sterling , often simply called the pound, is the currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and British Antarctic Territory...
34,029) who often, but not always, reside in households with a six-figure income.
Middle class
The
middle classThe American middle class is an ambiguously defined social class in the United States. While the concept remains largely ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use, contemporary sociologists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class...
is perhaps the mostly vaguely defined of the social classes. The term can be used either to describe a relative elite of professionals and managers – also called the upper middle class – or it can be used to describe those in-between the extremes of wealth, disregarding considerable differences in income, culture,
educational attainmentThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
, influence, and occupation. As with all social classes in the U.S., there are no definite answers as to what is and what is not middle class. Sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert, James Henslin, William Thompson, and Joseph Hickey have brought forth class models in which the middle class is divided into two sections that combined constitute 47% to 49% of the population. The upper middle or professional class constitutes the upper end of the middle class which consists of highly educated, well-paid professionals with considerable work autonomy. The lower end of the middle class – called either lower middle class or just middle class – consists of semi-professionals, craftsmen ,office staff, and sales employees who often have college degrees and are very loosely supervised.
Although income thresholds cannot be determined since social classes lack distinct boundaries and tend to overlap, sociologists and economist have put forward certain income figures they find indicative of middle class households. Sociologist
Leonard BeeghleyLeonard Beeghley is Professor Emeritus of sociology at the University of Florida since 1975. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Riverside in 1975 and has since published seven books over the course of his career...
identifies a husband making roughly $57,000 and a wife making roughly $40,000 with a household income of roughly $97,000 as a typical middle class family. Sociologists William Thompson and Joseph Hickey identify household incomes between $35,000 and $75,000 as typical for the lower middle and $100,000 or more as typical for the upper middle class. Though it needs to be noted that household income distribution neither reflects standard of living nor class status with complete accuracy.
Traditional middle class
Those households more or less at the center of society may be referred to as being part of the American middle or middle-middle class in vernacular language use. In the academic models featured in this article, however, the middle class does not constitute a strong majority of the population. Those in the middle of the socio-economic strata—the proverbial
Average JoeAverage Joe was an American reality television show broadcast on the NBC beginning in 2003. There were a total of four seasons, the first two following the original show premise, and the last two bringing back contestants from prior seasons....
—are commonly in the area where the working and lower middle class overlap. The most prominent academic models split the middle class into two sections. Yet, it remains common for the term middle class to be applied for anyone in between either extreme of the socio-economic strata. The middle class is then often sub-divided into an upper-middle, middle-middle, and lower-middle class. In colloquial descriptions of the class system the middle-middle class may described as consisting of those in the middle of the social strata. Politicians and television personalities such as Lou Dobbs can be seen using the term middle class in this manner, especially when discussing the middle class squeeze. The wide discrepancy between the academic models and public opinions that lump highly educated professionals together in the same class with secretaries, may lead to the conclusion that public opinion on the subject has become largely ambiguous.
Lower middle class
The lower middle class is, as the name implies, generally defined as those less privileged than the middle class. People in this class commonly work in supporting occupations. Although they seldom hold advanced academic degrees, a college degree (usually a bachelor's degree) is almost always required for entry into the lower middle class.
Sociologists Dennis Gilbert, William Thompson, and Joseph Hickey, however, only divide the middle class into two groups. In their class modes the middle class only consists of an upper and lower middle class. The upper middle class, as described above, constitutes roughly 15% of the population with highly educated white collar professionals who commonly have salaries in the high 5-figure range and household incomes in the low six figure range. Semi-professionals with Bachelor's degrees and some college degrees constitute the lower middle class. Their class models show the lower middle class positioned slightly above the middle of the socio-economic strata. Those in blue and
pink collarA pink-collar worker is employed in a job that is traditionally considered to be women's work. The term arose to distinguish these female-orientated jobs from the blue-collar worker, a worker in manual labor, and the white-collar worker, a professional or educated worker in largely office...
as well as clerical occupations are referred to as working class in these class models.
Lower class
The term lower class is commonly applied to those at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Definitions of this term vary greatly. While Lloyd Warner found the vast majority of the American population to be in either the upper-lower class or lower-lower class in 1949, modern-day experts such as Michael Zweig, an economist for
SUNY–Stony BrookState University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....
, argue that the working class constitutes most of the population. Dennis Gilbert places 13% of households among the "working poor" with 12% being in the "underclass". Thompson & Hickey place roughly 17% to 20% of households in the lower classes. The lower classes constituting roughly a fifth to a quarter of American society consists mainly of low-rung retail and service workers as well as the frequently unemployed and those not able to work. Overall, 13% of the population fall below the
poverty thresholdThe poverty threshold, or poverty line, is the minimum level of income deemed necessary to achieve an adequate standard of living in a given country...
. Hunger and food insecurity were present in the lives of 3.9% of American households, while roughly twenty-five million Americans (ca. 9%) participated in the food stamp program.
Farmworkers
Before industrialization, "yeoman farmers"—self-sufficient, politically independent landowners—made up a large portion of the country's population.
Jeffersonian democracyJeffersonian democracy is the set of political goals that were named after Thomas Jefferson. It dominated American politics in the years 1800-1820s. It is contrasted with Jacksonian democracy, which dominated the next political era...
and
Jacksonian democracyJacksonian democracy is the political philosophy of United States President Andrew Jackson and his supporters. Jackson's policies followed the era of Jeffersonian democracy which dominated the previous political era...
successfully expanded the political rights of the yeomen, and the geographical extent of the nation to provide them farms. This culminated in the
Homestead ActThe Homestead Act was a United States Federal law that gave an applicant freehold title up to 160 acres of undeveloped land outside of the original 13 colonies. The new law required three steps: file an application, improve the land, and file for deed of title. Anyone who had never taken up arms...
of 1862 which provided hundreds of thousands of free farms. Before 1865 large southern plantations used slaves. After
emancipationEmancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a 1996 music album by Prince...
, a system of
sharecroppingSharecropping is a system of agriculture or agricultural production in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land...
and tenant farming for both whites and blacks in the
SouthThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
provided a semi-independent status for farmers who did not own their land. In contemporary times, migrant agricultural workers—mostly Mexicans—perform field and packing work.
Farmers
Only 0.7% of the population of the United States is employed in the agricultural sector. Most are proprietors of independent farms. Once the dominant American social class, this group diminished in overall numbers during the 20th century, as farm holdings grew more consolidated, farming operations became more mechanized, and most of the population migrated to urban areas. Today, the agricultural sector has essentially taken on the characteristics of business and industry generally. In contemporary usage, a "farmer" is someone who owns and operates a farm, which more often than not will be a sizable business enterprise; "agricultural workers" or "farm workers", who perform the actual work associated with farming, typically come out of the lower classes; indeed, they are often near-destitute immigrants or migrant farm workers. In this respect, farming mirrors big business: like any enterprise, a farm has owners (who may be a family or a corporation), salaried managers, supervisors, foremen and workers. With the number of farms steadily diminishing, the stereotypical humble homestead is increasingly the exception, for viable farming now means agribusiness; the large amounts of capital required to operate a competitive farm require large-scale organization. The large landowners in
California'sCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
Central ValleyThe Central Valley is a large, flat valley that dominates the central portion of the U.S. state of California. It is home to many of California's most productive agricultural efforts....
,
Coachella ValleyThe Coachella Valley is a large valley landform in Southern California. Populated by nearly one million people, the valley is part of the 14th largest metropolitan area in the United States, the Inland Empire, and includes the famed tourist destination, Palm Springs...
and Imperial Valley fall squarely within the upper class. Among farmers, "income" in the conventional sense is not an accurate standard of wealth measurement, because farmers typically keep their official income low by placing their assets into farming corporations rather than drawing the money directly. The stereotypical poor, marginal farmer "eking out a living" from the soil, an image deeply ingrained in most Americans' minds by folklore, films, and even history texts, has now been largely displaced by agribusiness, which has bought them out and consolidated their holdings.
Class mobility
Class ascendancy—namely that each successive generation will have a higher standard of living than its predecessor—is a central theme in
American literatureAmerican literature is the written or literary work produced in the area of the United States and Colonial America. For more specific discussions of poetry and theater, see Poetry of the United States and Theater in the United States. During its early history, America was a series of British...
and culture and plays a key role in the
American dreamThe American Dream is a national ethos of the United States of America in which democratic ideals are perceived as a promise of prosperity for its people...
. While social class in the United States is thought to be largely based on achievement, climbing the social ladder is more difficult for those born into less advantageous positions. Occupation (perhaps the most important class component), educational attainment, and income can be increased through a lifetime. However, factors such as wealth inheritance and local education system—which often provides lower quality education to those in poor school districts—may make rising out of poverty a challenge. Class mobility in the United States decreased between the 1970s and the 1990s.
Class and politics
Income remains one of the main indicators of class, as it commonly reflects high educational attainment as well as a prestigious occupation. Today there remains a strong correlation, if not causation, between political activism as well as political representation and
household incomeHousehold income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions. That measure counts all the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments,...
. Furthermore, a discrepancy in the political attitudes can be found among individuals residing in households with differing incomes. During the 2000 election, voter turnout among those in the top 26% with
household incomesHousehold income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions. That measure counts all the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments,...
exceeding $75,000 was 27% higher than the average. Some rather controversial issues such as race were impacted by
household incomeHousehold income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions. That measure counts all the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments,...
. With higher voter turnout and affiliation with professional organizations and other popular political lobbies such as the
AARPAARP, formerly known as the American Association of Retired Persons, is a United States-based non-governmental organization and interest group. According to its mission statement, it is "a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization for people age 50 and over .....
or NAACP, those with higher incomes were more likely to be represented in the political process with the government being more attuned to their needs.
Education also has an effect on voting record. Generally, the more educated a person is, the more likely he or she is to vote with those having graduate degrees being more likely to vote Democrat. While a rise in income generally increases the likelihood of a person voting Republican, many upper middle class professionals with
post-graduate degreesThe educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
are more likely to vote
DemocratThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
. The presence of upper middle class liberals as households with incomes exceeding $100,000 and those with graduate degrees were the only demographics where Ralph Nader won 1% of the vote. Even though those with post-graduate degrees only constituted 8.9% of the general population, they constituted 16% of all voters. This means that the most highly educated 16% of voters were expected to vote Democrat even though most of their similarly high paid but lesser educated counterparts did not.
Class and health
IncomeIncome in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The differences between household and personal income is considerable since 42% of households, the majority of those in the top two quintiles with incomes exceeding $57,658, now...
also had a significant impact on health as those with higher
incomesIncome in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The differences between household and personal income is considerable since 42% of households, the majority of those in the top two quintiles with incomes exceeding $57,658, now...
had better access to health care facilities, higher
life expectancyLife expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e
x, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
, lower infant mortality rate and increased health consciousness. While the United States lacks
socialized medicineSocialized medicine is a term used primarily in the United States to refer to certain kinds of publicly-funded health care. The term is used most frequently, and often pejoratively, in the U.S. political debate concerning health care...
similar to that found in many other post-industrialized developed nations across Europe and Asia, 85% of the U.S. population were insured in 2005. Yet, discrepancies seem to remain beyond the difference between insured and uninsured. In 2006, Harvard researchers divided the U.S. into "eight Americas." Life expectancy ranges from 84.9 years for the 10,400,000 Asian Americans who had an average
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
of $21,566. Urban
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
s with an
averageIn mathematics, an average, central tendency of a data set is a measure of the "middle" or "expected" value of the data set. There are many different descriptive statistics that can be chosen as a measurement of the central tendency of the data items. These include arithmetic mean, the median and...
per capita incomePer capita income means how much each individual receives, in monetary terms, of the yearly income generated in the country. This is what each citizen is to receive if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income is usually reported in units of currency per year...
of a mere $14,800 had a
life expectancyLife expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e
x, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
of merely 71.1 years, although this does not control for natural longevity differences among race. Furthermore, the United States like other
post-industrial nationsA post-industrial society is a society in which an economic transition has occurred from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy, a diffusion of national and global capital, and mass privatization. The prerequisites to this economic shift are the processes of industrialization and...
saw increased health consciousness among persons of higher social status. Persons of higher status are less likely to smoke, more likely to exercise regularly and be more conscious of their diet. Additionally, poor Americans are more likely to consume lower quality, processed foods. One can therefore conclude that low socio-economic status contributes to a person's likelihood of being obese.
See also
- Income inequality in the United States
Income inequality in the United States is the extent to which income, most commonly measured by household or individual, is distributed in an uneven manner...
- Social class in American history
Social class has been an important theme for historians of the United States for over 100 years.-Colonial period:Historians in recent decades have explored in microscopic detail the process of settling the new country and creating the social structure....
- Social stratification
In sociology and anthropology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of individuals into social classes, castes, and divisions within a society...
Further reading
- Leonard Beeghley; The Structure of Social Stratification in the United States Pearson, 2004
- Dennis Gilbert; The American Class Structure Wadsworth, 2002
- Rhonda Levine; Social Class and Stratification Rowman & Littlefield, 1998
- Michael Zweig; What's Class Got To Do With It? Cornell University Press, 2003
- Christopher Beach; Class, Language, and American Film Comedy Cambridge University Press, 2002
- Harold J. Bershady ed; Social Class and Democratic Leadership: Essays in Honor of E. Digby Baltzell 1989
- Daniel Bertaux, and Paul Thompson; Pathways to Social Class: A Qualitative Approach to Social Mobility Clarendon Press, 1997
- Barbara Ehrenreich. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America (2002), author disguises herself as working class
- David B. Grusky (Editor) Social Stratification: Class, Race, and Gender in Sociological Perspective (2000)
- Alan C. Kerckhoff; Socialization and Social Class 1972, textbook
- Jim Lardner, James Lardner, David A. Smith, editors, Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide In America And Its Poisonous Consequences, WW Norton (January, 2006), hardcover, 224 pages, ISBN 1-56584-995-7
- Erik Olin Wright. Classe (1997) - a detailed Marxian guide to define working class/middle class etc.
- David Popenoe, Sociology, (ninth edition, Prentice Hall, 1993 ISBN 0-13-819798-9 ) pb. pp. 232–236,
- Wealth, Income, and Power - wealth distribution in the U.S. from a Power Structure Research perspective
- Myth: Income mobility makes up for income inequality - analysis from Liberal point of view
- Kalra, Paul (1996). The American Class System: Divide and Rule. ISBN 0-96-471735-2.
- Kay Hymowitz / Marriage and Caste in America: Separate and Unequal Families in a Post-Marital Age (2006) ISBN 1566637090
- G. William Domhoff
George William Domhoff is a Research Professor in psychology and sociology at the University of California, Santa Cruz...
(1967). Who Rules America?, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall
- Lee D. Baker (2004). Life in America: Identity and Everyday Experience, Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 140510564X
External links