Middle class is a group of people between the upper and lower classes in a society. Many people in the middle class share similar levels of education, income, wealth, and power. For example, the majority of middle-class people have at least a high-school education and a comfortable standard of living. People in the middle class work for a living and do not inherit great wealth, but they can hold almost any occupation. People who consider themselves middle class often share certain personality traits, too, such as individualism, self-motivation, industriousness, and strict moral standards.
The term middle class came into use in the towns of Europe in the early 1800’s. It referred to the bourgeoisie (business class), a group of people who had jobs that enabled them to live more comfortably than laborers, but not as well as aristocrats. Karl Marx, a German writer and thinker in the 1800’s, helped define the differences between classes. Marx believed that people were divided into classes based on their access to the means of production (ways of making a living), such as land and machinery. As the economies of Europe became more industrialized, more people were needed to operate machinery in factories and to manage other workers. This growing demand for managers caused the middle class to expand. During the late 1800’s and the 1900’s, the middle class grew steadily with the addition of new groups, such as lawyers, accountants, health and welfare professionals, and specialists in information processing.
Today, most people in Western democracies view themselves as members of the middle class, regardless of their income. Because so many people describe themselves as belonging to the middle class, it has become an important segment of society. In many democratic countries, political candidates who capture the attention of the middle class gain wide support. For this reason, middle-class values and interests often shape national policies and world events.
See also Social class .
