How do you know if your middle class?

[secret]

[GOD]

We did an interesting experiment with a class I took in high school once. The teacher asked everyone to raise their hand if they were lower class. One guy raised his hand. Then he asked everyone who was upper class. No one. Last he asked everyone who is middle class. Everyone else raised their hands.

So 99% of our class was middle class according to themselves.

Then we took a poll of the income of the parents and whether that was both parents or one. The range was from over $200,000+ a year to as low as $30,000.
All of these people considered themselves middle class.

I think the normal thing is that unless you have a million US dollars or more available to spend, then you are middle class. If you are worth a million but can't spend that much then you might be somewhere in the upper middle.

[Aden]

do you have a porch? no?
do you have a home over you're head? yes?
do you work? yes?
if you answered the questions the same as me, you're middle class.

[David]

explain your question in more detail.

[Jim G]

The term "middle class" is often misused by the media. On television news, the "talking heads" refer to almost anybody who has a job as being middle class. In face, middle class (or any class) is defined by lifestyle, not by income.

Lloyd Warner and his associates did a number of community studies about 60 years ago to determine the first social class pattern of the U.S. He used two scales, Evaluated Participation (called the EP) and the Index of Status Characteristics (called the ISC). The EP established people's "status reputation" among other members of the community. Therefore it was a subjective measurement. The ISC determined things like source of income, amount of income, house type, neighborhood, etc. Warner first identified five social classes. Later, in a wider study, he found 13 social classes. If fact, nobody knows how many social classes we have.

As a result of Warner's study, sociologists usually use six social classes to describe the U.S. society: two upper classes, two middle classes, and two lower classes.

So, to answer your question, you need to know about the two middle classes: the lower-middle class and the upper-middle class.

The lower-middle class is made up of office workers, most teachers, police and firefighters, bookkeepers, and so forth. If they live in a house, it is most likely a tract house. They are less likely than most others to buy on credit. They value education for their children for the purpose of upward mobility. They tend to be moralistic, careful with money, and traditional in their values.

The upper-middle class is our professional class. It is made up of physicians, professional business people (generally with MBA degrees), engineers, scientists, and so forth. In modern times, to be in this class practically requires at least a college degree. The houses that these people live in are custom built. Their lifestyle includes travel on a regular basis, visitation to museums and art galleries, participation in civic organizations (like Rotary, Kiwanis, members of city council, charity organizations, etc.). They value education for the sake of education, not just for upward mobility.

To most people (who are members of the upper-lower class -- often called the "working class" -- and the lower-middle class) there people are viewed as being "upper class" because these are the people we'd like to be. To the rest of society, the upper-middle class "has it made."

The real upper classes are so far above the expectations of most people that their lifestyle is not easily understood. Most have inherited wealth.