The American Middle Class in the Twenty-First Century: Four Theses

Abstract

This working paper draws together the author's prior discussion of the situation of the "middle class" in the United States between the mid-twentieth century and the present by way of four theses, emphasizing that the "middle class" as commonly construed (rather than merely persons of "middle income") is actually a small minority; that this is partly a function of its declining real purchasing power relative to the cost of a middle class living standard; that as a whole the group's perceptions have lagged changes in its socioeconomic situation; and that, conservative force that it has been in American political life, its erosion should not be overlooked in discussion of the country's more "polarized" politics.

Keywords: Class, Social Class, Middle Class, Political Economy, Political Science, Living Standards, Cost of Living, Structure of Society, Sociology, Class in America, Class in the U.S., Neoliberalism