The Remaking—and Decline—of the Middle Class: A Note

Abstract

In light of the extreme imprecision, and even obfuscation, surrounding the concept of "middle classness" this working paper examines it critically, identifying it with the individual's enjoyment of a particular measure of comfort, security and opportunity. Historically these were founded on property ownership, a basis that proved less tenable in the industrialized era, with the result that two principal versions of middle classness emerged as ways of providing the goods entailed--a more market-based version of middle classness in which the managerial-professional "Company Man" had these things by way of their job, and a more social democratic version where welfare states and labor unions enabled working people to enjoy these benefits. This working paper considers the limitations of each of those versions as observed at their peak in the post-World War II, "Keynesian Fordist" era, and afterward, the implications of the succeeding neoliberal era.

Keywords: Middle Class, Keynesian Fordism, Neoliberalism, Living Standards, Income Distribution, Economic History, Social History, Welfare States, Industrialized Societies