ANS -- Defining "Middle Class"

Here is a Facebook post by Brad Hicks and the accompanying comments.  It's about the definitions of "Middle Class" and is quite interesting -- and short.  

What do you think of the definitions?  Does it change your estimate of where you are?  is it where we should be?  What does it mean about our country and our economy?  Would this be a good topic for a discussion?

Sorry, no URL available.

--Kim

Brad Hicks

3 hrs  · 

I mentioned the book /Dream Hoarders/ last night, and it relates to a rant I've been trying to write for 15 years, but I just can't condense down in a way that conveys what I'm trying to convey. But I feel like taking a crack at it this morning. This might ramble a bit, and I feel like I could make this case more convincing if I keep trying, give it more time, but here goes:

I wonder how many Americans actually understand that there are two conflicting definitions of "middle class." And that those definitions matter. And that one of them is a lot more accurate, historically, than the other. And that, by that one? They ain't it.

Let me start by dividing society into not three classes, but five:

POOR: High school education or less. Low functional literacy rates; can only read and write, at all, with difficulty. Marginally attached to the labor force; frequent periods of unemployment. Insecurely housed, insecurely fed. No non-emergency health care provided.

WORKING CLASS: High school education, but no higher. Minimally literate, but seldom reads for enjoyment. Unskilled labor: no specialized vocational training, no union. Vulnerable to unemployment during recessions or after health/family emergencies. May identify as self-employed, but only through gig work, MLMs, or struggling sole proprietorship or small family business. Very little non-emergency health care available.

SKILLED LABOR: Some post-high-school education, either vocational through a union or a trade school or college classes (Bachelor's degree or below). Fully literate, but reads mostly magazines and the news, maybe one or two books a year. Works as skilled labor or as a low-level supervisor. Mostly securely employed, housed, and fed. Employer-provided health insurance but with low coverage and high deductibles.

PROFESSIONAL: Post-graduate education, at least an MBA. Fully literate; reads and writes for both work and pleasure. Works in "the professions" (law, medicine, clergy, college academics, politics) or as mid-level management in a firm. Securely employed, plus significant (but not majority) income from owned investments. In general, health care available on demand.

WEALTHY: Post-graduate education common. Presumed fully literate and well-read (although may be faking it if to the manor born). Works, if at all, in executive management, as a celebrity creative, or in other highly prestigious celebrity work, but derives the majority of their income from investments. State of the art health care on demand. All luxuries available on demand.

Now, here's the thing. In America, it's fashionable to claim that we are a middle-class nation. In extreme cases, people literally mean that all five of the above are middle class, which is inherently silly. Our politicians say that there are only three classes in America: the poor, the middle class (working, skilled working, professional), and the rich. But ... and here's the kicker:

More than half of them don't mean it. What they mean is closer to what Marx and other early social theorists meant when THEY coined the term: workers (poor, working, skilled labor), middle (managerial/professional), and the wealthy (owners/executives). If neither you nor your close family members have post-graduate degrees? If neither you nor your close family members derive substantial annual income from investments? If you work in a job that isn't middle-management, creative, or one of the most-respected professions? YOU AIN'T MIDDLE CLASS.

But they sure as hell will tell you that you are, so that you don't think that the privileges and the security that are reserved for the top 20% or so are out of your reach (even though, let's be honest, they really are), so that you won't organize with your fellow poor, working, and skilled working people to demand a more equitable share of the country's production, and so that you'll keep voting for the interests of the professional class.

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• Teresa Shepherd

  Interesting. I would have proudly proclaimed myself as working class.. but by your definition I am skilled labor.. when most people look down on my job as unskilled because all I have ever had is on the job training for it. I am expected to run and trobleshoot all sorts of electronic devices, be able to read and understand all sorts of clerical acconts, I can merchandise, package, wield a knife, use comerical fryer, a slicer and a commercial oven.. yet most will tell you my job is unskilled and falls short.

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• Steve Martin

  Define Health Care available on demand.

  

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  • Brad Hicks

    When you or a family member get sick and you can just immediately call to schedule an appointment with a doctor or dentist, without any fear that the costs that aren't covered by insurance will be so high as to render the family homeless.

    

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• Andrew Jensen

  Hell, *even if you are* middle management, creative, or in a respected profession.

  I'm in the architectural profession. I am still precariat. I will never *not* be precariat. Being middle class is a luxury reserved for those architects that come from wealthy enough backgrounds that they socialize with the sort of people who hire architects. If you didn't already belong to that group, being an architect doesn't grant you access, and you'll have to work for someone who does.

  I know practicing lawyers who are functionally homeless.

  The professions used to be a ticket to the middle class, but because of that, tons of millenials went into the professions, and due to the surge in available job candidates, wages are depressed and prestige is gone.

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  • Brad Hicks

    Yeah, that's the other thing, something I left out for brevity's sake. There's a lot of pressure, especially from Republicans, to raise the bar on what even they call middle class. To have it not be enough to be a doctor, you have to be a specialty surgeon. To have it not be enough to be a lawyer, to be a senior partner. To have it not be enough to be a director in a firm, to be a senior vice president. And to define everybody else, below that, as "the poor."

    I remember about 10 years ago some Republican politician being asked in a debate what income level they defined as middle class, and them saying $250k individual income or $400k household. People gasped. But they treated it as a mistake, rather than a gaffe. (A gaffe being defined as when a politician accidentally tells the truth.)

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  • Andrew Jensen

    It's almost like there's only so much room at each level of the hierarchy, and so the requirements have to change to keep the number of people who count constant.

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  • Elizabeth Donald

    Andrew Jensen

     Yeah, I find it hard to relate to this hierarchy because I know far too many people who don't fall into these classes. People with no education beyond high school but read voraciously, or people with high levels of education who are nowhere near secure financially, or Andrew's examples. Hell, my profession requires a bachelors or masters degree and an extensive amount of continuing education and highly specialized skills and the entry-level jobs pay $10 an hour. After 20 years I still didn't top $35k. And "the professions" are hardly the only highly lucrative jobs now - a college dropout who can program will always make a hell of a lot more than me.

    

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  • Brad Hicks

    Yeah, but Elizabeth, reporter for a small town newspaper in the flyover zone is no more in the same social class as a reporter for the Washington Post, than the CEO of Pop's Ice Cream Stand is in the same social class as the CEO of Goldman Sachs.

    

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  • Kim Cooper

    Elizabeth Donald

     Programmers don't make anywhere near as much as they used to -- the numbers have stayed the same as the cost of living has multiplied. My spouse got offered the same job at the same pay but with a 20 year interval between. Yes, it still pays better than average, but in California, $120k is poverty wages, and the job I mentioned was closer to $90k. and my spouse had two master's degrees, in EE and mechanical engineering. Of course, being female brought the $ down....

    
    

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