Economically and Socially, Middle Class Means Many Things | econlife.com

Economically and Socially, Middle Class Means Many Things | econlife.com connects Economics to everyday life, current events and history.

Because the middle class has no one definition, to whom it refers to, is somewhat of a mystery.

Trying to Find the Middle Class by Elaine Schwartz • Jan 15, 2015

Asked if you know someone in the middle class, you might name yourself…and your friends. We all know people in the middle class. In fact, few of us know people who are not middle class. Where are we going? Ask people what they mean by the middle class and it becomes a mystery. In one Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, they even say that Congress needs information on the middle class but “there is no official government definition of who belongs in the middle class…” So, I tried to identify the middle class.

Finding the Middle Class: Dollars

Asked with which class they identified, in the most current Population Survey (Census Bureau), respondents with incomes ranging from $39,736 to incomes exceeding $104,087 said the middle class. Below, I’ve circled the 98 million households that would have self-identified as the middle class in that survey:

 

For another point of view, you could ask the White House Task Force on the Middle Class. Combining money and aspirations, they said you are middle class if you want a house, a car, college education for your children, family vacations and health and retirement security. Translated into a number, the total income for a middle class married couple with two children is somewhere between $50,800 and $122,800 in 2008 dollars. Other definitions target either current or permanent income, who is in a person’s reference group, and how close your income is to the 2012 median household income of $51,017. Talking medians, though, takes you to debating how far to stretch the middle class above and below that median (which is the midpoint of all household incomes if they were lined up, side by side). “To be middle class is to have money to spend on non-necessities. But it also involves a shift in values. Middle-class parents have fewer kids but spend more time and money cultivating each one. They often adopt the bourgeois values — emphasizing industry, prudence, ambition, neatness, order, moderation and continual self-improvement. They teach their children to lead different lives from their own, and as Karl Marx was among the first to observe, unleash a relentless spirit of improvement and openness that alters every ancient institution.” ~ NY Times columnist David Brooks via Economically and Socially, Middle Class Means Many Things | econlife.com connects Economics to everyday life, current events and history..