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Thông thường, thuật ngữ này thường được dùng để chỉ những người có một mức độ độc lập kinh tế nào đó, nhưng không có [[ảnh hưởng]] quá lớn trong xã hội hay [[quyền lực (xã hội học)|quyền lực]] trong xã hội của họ. Thuật ngữ này thường bao gồm các nhà buôn, những người có tay nghề, quan chức, và một số nông dân cũng như thợ thủ công có trình độ cao {{fact}}. Trong khi đa số người Mỹ tự coi mình thuộc [[Tầng lớp trung lưu Hoa Kỳ|tầng lớp trung lưu]], chỉ 20% trong số đó có phong cách sống của [[Tầng lớp trung lưu Hoa Kỳ]].<ref name="Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/middleclassoverview.html|title=Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy|accessdate=2006-07-25}}</ref> These 20%, however, also referred to as the Professional middle class are influencial members society due to the nature of their work and this class has largely been credited with establishing the American mainstream.<ref name="The Inner Life of the Middle Class">{{cite book | last = Ehrenreich | first = Barbara | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1989 | title = Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class | publisher = Harper Collins | location = New York, NY | id = 0-06-0973331}}</ref>
Social hierarchies, and their definitions, vary. There are many factors that can define the middle class of a society, such as financial, behavioral and inherited grounds. In the US and many other countries, it is predominantly finance that determines one's place in the social hierarchy. In other societies it can be other social factors such as education, profession ([[white-collar worker|white collar]] rather than [[blue-collar worker|blue collar]]), home ownership, or culture.
The [[connotation]] of the term also varies significantly between nations. US usage is increasingly broad in scope but almost always positive in intent, creating the image of an unpretentious, hard-working person as contrasted to an elitist or exploitative upper class.
In the [[United Kingdom]] and many [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] nations, the term can sometimes be [[pejorative]], implying a fairly privileged [[bourgeois]] person often simulating upper class mannerisms or attitudes, in contrast to a hard-working and unpretentious [[working class]]. (See also [[chattering classes]].)
==History and evolution of the term==
[[Image:ChevyTahoe2007.jpg|thumb|250px|A Chevrolet Tahoe, a typical middle class family vehicle in the United States.]]
[[Image:Mercedes.c220.thornbury.arp.750pix.jpg|thumb|250px|A Mercedes-Benz C-Class which is according to official German car classification, identified as a ''Mittelklasse Fahrzeug'' or Middle class vehicle.]]
The '''middle class''' in this article refers to people neither at the top nor at the bottom of a [[social hierarchy]].
Not everyone will accept the introductory example given above, for 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]]. 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.)
Descending from this distinction, the phrase "middle class" came to be used in the [[United Kingdom]] during the 18th century to describe the professional and business class, as distinct from both the [[peerage|titled nobility]] and the landed [[gentry]] on the one hand and the agricultural and (increasingly) industrial laborers on the other. 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]]. 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]]. 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. Middle class helped the French Revolution to start.
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]]." The expansion of the phrase "middle class" in the United States appears to have been predicated in the [[1970s]] by the decline of [[labor union]]s in the US 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 unionized blue-collar worker.
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 statistically insignificant numbers identifying themselves as upper class. In contrast, in the United Kingdom, many who traditionally would be considered middle class today identify themselves as working class. In recent surveys up to two-thirds of Britons tend to identify themselves as working class. This has been described as a form of "inverse snobbery." Nonetheless the British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], which grew out of the organized labor movement and originally drew almost all of its support from the working class, reinvented itself under [[Tony Blair]] in the 1990s as "[[New Labour#New Labour|New Labour]]," a party competing with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] for the votes of the middle class as well as the working class. The size of the middle class depends on how it is defined, whether by education, [[wealth]], environment of upbringing, [[genetics|genetic]] relationships, [[social network]], manners or values, etc. 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]], including all financiers, [[lawyers]], [[physicians|doctors]] and [[clergymen]] regardless of their leisure or wealth.
* Belief in [[bourgeois]] values, such as high rates of [[house]] or long-term [[leasing|lease]] [[ownership]] and jobs which are perceived to be "[[job security|secure]]." In the United States and in the United Kingdom, [[politician]]s typically target the votes of the middle classes.
* Lifestyle. In the United Kingdom, social status has been less directly linked to wealth than in the United States, and has also been judged by pointers such as [[accent]], manners, place of education and the class of a person's circle of friends and acquaintances. Often in the United States, the middle class are the most eager participants in [[pop culture]]. The second generation of new [[immigrants]] will often enthusiastically forsake their traditional [[folk culture]] as a sign of having arrived in the middle class.
==Critism of the British middle class==
In contrast, the British author Alexander Deane thinks that the middle class is not under threat, but rather is the cause of problems itself. In his approach, economic considerations are secondary to moral ones, and the UK middle class is not carrying out its responsibilities as it should.
It is also believed that the labour party has it in for the middle-class, when interviewed a labour correspondent said "It's no different from the 90% of people who can't afford or could do without a pension" in response to a question about middle-class people losing their pensions.
== Marxism and the middle class ==
[[Marxism]] does not necessarily see the groups described above as the middle class. 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. 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. 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]], [[professional]]s and [[managers]]. 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). Still others (for example, [[Council communism|Council communists]]) allege that there is a class comprising intellectuals, technocrats and managers which seeks power in its own right. This last group of communists allege that such technocratic middle classes seized power and government for themselves in [[Soviet Union|Soviet-style societies]] (see [[coordinatorism|co-ordinatorism]]).
==[[American middle class]]==
''See [[American middle class]] for a complete overview of the middle class in the United States.''<br>
In the United States the definition of the term middle class is very vague as neither [[economists]] nor any other [[sociologists]] have ever set down to accurately develop guidelines to precisely define the [[American middle class]] and its [[American middle class#Subdividing of the middle class|sub-divisions]].<ref name="Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/middleclassoverview.html|title=Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy|accessdate=2006-07-25}}</ref> There seem to be several approaches as to what is [[American middle class|middle class]]. As recent economic trends have shown that the [[American middle class#statistical middle class|statistical middle]] of [[American society]] cannot actually afford the [[American middle class#Defining attributes|lifestyle indicative of the middle class]],<ref name="Middle income can't buy Middle class lifestyle">{{cite web|url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/10.30/19-bankruptcy.html|title=Middle income can't buy Middle class lifestyle|accessdate=2006-07-25}}</ref> which is lived by roughly 20% of the population,<ref name="The Inner Life of the Middle Class">{{cite book | last = Ehrenreich | first = Barbara | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1989 | title = Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class | publisher = Harper Collins | location = New York, NY | id = 0-06-0973331}}</ref> the term middle class can also correctly be applied to a [[Upper middle class#American upper middle class|reltive elite]] of [[professional class|professionals]] and [[Managerial class|managers]]. This group which is sometimes referred to as the [[Upper middle class#American upper middle class|upper middle class]], [[Upper middle class#American upper middle class|true middle class]] or [[Upper middle class#American upper middle class|professional middle class]] is highly-educated, [[Household income in the United States|well-paid]] minority, largely immune to economic downturns which can have severe effects on those in the [[American middle class#Statistical middle class|actual middle of society]].<ref name="The Inner Life of the Middle Class">{{cite book | last = Ehrenreich | first = Barbara | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1989 | title = Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class | publisher = Harper Collins | location = New York, NY | id = 0-06-0973331}}</ref> Yet other defenitions use merely income and state the [[American middle class|middle class]] to be all those who have either income ranging from 80% to 120% of the [[Household income in the United States|national median]] or those making $25,000 to $100,000 annuallly.<ref name="Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/middleclassoverview.html|title=Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy|accessdate=2006-07-25}}</ref> The problem with these two theories is that the former cannot actually afford the [[American middle class#Defining attributes|middle class lifestyle]]<ref name="Middle income can't buy Middle class lifestyle">{{cite web|url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/10.30/19-bankruptcy.html|title=Middle income can't buy Middle class lifestyle|accessdate=2006-07-25}}</ref> and latter is too economically fragmented, including janitors and professionals in the same class. Over the middle three [[income quintiles]] earned between annual household income ranging from $18,500 to $88,030,<ref name="US Census Bureau, income quintilea and Top 5 Percent, 2004">{{cite web|url=http://pubdb3.census.gov/macro/032005/hhinc/new05_000.htm|title=US Census Bureau, income quintilea and Top 5 Percent, 2004|accessdate=2006-07-08}}</ref>
while the lifestyle indicative of the [[American middle class|middle class]] was lived by a [[Upper middle class#American upper middle class|privileged minority]], belonging mostly to the top third of American society.<ref name="The Inner Life of the Middle Class">{{cite book | last = Ehrenreich | first = Barbara | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1989 | title = Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class | publisher = Harper Collins | location = New York, NY | id = 0-06-0973331}}</ref>
==See also==
*[[American middle class]]
*[[Lower class]]
*[[Lower middle class]]
*[[Upper middle class]]
*[[Upper class]]
*[[Bourgeoisie]]
*[[Underclass]]
*[[Classlessness]]
*[[Political Donor Class]]
*[[Nouveau riche]] (New Money)
*[[Old Money]]
*[[Producerism]]
*[[Social structure of the United States]]
*[[Household income in the United States]]
==References==
<references />
{{Socialclass}}
[[Category:Social groups]]
[[Category:Social classes]]
[[de:Mittelstand]]
[[es:Clase media]]
[[fr:Classe moyenne]]
[[ko:중산층]]
[[it:Ceto medio]]
[[nl:Middle class]]
[[ja:中産階級]]
[[no:Middelklasse]]
[[pl:Klasa średnia]]
[[pt:Classe média]]
[[ru:Средний класс]]
[[sv:Medelklass]]
[[Image:Waikiki-condos.JPG|thumb|250px|Middle class and upper-middle class condos as well as upper-class penthouses in Waikiki, Honolulu, starting at $300,000.]]
Colloquially, the term is often applied to people who have a degree of economic independence, but not a great deal of social [[influence]] or [[power (sociology)|power]] in their society. The term often encompasses merchants and professionals, bureaucrats, and some farmers and skilled workers{{fact}}. While most Americans identify themselves as [[American middle class|middle class]], only 20% live the lifestyle indicative of the [[American middle class]].<ref name="Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy">{{cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/middleclassoverview.html|title=Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy|accessdate=2006-07-25}}</ref> These 20%, however, also referred to as the Professional middle class are influencial members society due to the nature of their work and this class has largely been credited with establishing the American mainstream.<ref name="The Inner Life of the Middle Class">{{cite book | last = Ehrenreich | first = Barbara | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1989 | title = Fear of Falling, The Inner Life of the Middle Class | publisher = Harper Collins | location = New York, NY | id = 0-06-0973331}}</ref>
Social hierarchies, and their definitions, vary. There are many factors that can define the middle class of a society, such as financial, behavioral and inherited grounds. In the US and many other countries, it is predominantly finance that determines one's place in the social hierarchy. In other societies it can be other social factors such as education, profession ([[white-collar worker|white collar]] rather than [[blue-collar worker|blue collar]]), home ownership, or culture.
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