I don’t really know how the different “classes” are defined. Everyone who isn’t either wealthy or homeless likes to believe that they’re middle or upper-middle class. I’d argue that if you can’t afford a home, you’re low or lower-middle class.
This is not meant to be a judgement against people who can’t afford homes. If anything, I’m just pointing out the horrible income inequality and how the “vanishing middle class” has indeed vanished, to a large extent.
I don’t really know how the different economic classes are defined. It seems like everyone who isn’t either wealthy or homeless likes to believe that they’re middle or upper-middle class.
And that's by design. "Middle class" is pretty much a propaganda term. In reality there's only two classes: working class and owner class.
There’s no single definition of the middle class, but one of the most go-to benchmarks is Pew Research’s household income percentile ranges for economic classes, which go as follows:
Lower-middle class: 20th - 40th percentile
Middle class: 40th - 60th percentile
Upper-middle class: 60th - 80th percentile
Based on these percentile ranges, America’s “middle class” households fall into three main income tiers:
Given the purchasing power of $100k, I feel like those numbers are woefully out of date. Not saying you’re wrong, only that the numbers themselves need to be reevaluated in light of what has happened in the last 5 years (and started well before that).
Otherwise, “middle class” is meaningless because it doesn’t represent purchasing power, only an arbitrary number.
Yeah the real story is what was the middle class is now lower and upper class is now middle and you have to be wealthy to be upper. ie - modest stand alone houses are doctor/lawyer territory and having a mcmansion is like business owners.
Generally the definitions i’ve seen economists use is that the middle class is defined as people who earn the majority of their money from an actual salary instead of stocks, either as bonuses or from investments, and as such are working class and not part of the ownership class, but who can also lose their job and have six months of savings to comfortably find a new one and as such are not poor either.
blandfordforever@lemm.ee 7 months ago
I don’t really know how the different “classes” are defined. Everyone who isn’t either wealthy or homeless likes to believe that they’re middle or upper-middle class. I’d argue that if you can’t afford a home, you’re low or lower-middle class.
This is not meant to be a judgement against people who can’t afford homes. If anything, I’m just pointing out the horrible income inequality and how the “vanishing middle class” has indeed vanished, to a large extent.
Shurimal@kbin.social 7 months ago
And that's by design. "Middle class" is pretty much a propaganda term. In reality there's only two classes: working class and owner class.
IsThisAnAI@lemmy.world 7 months ago
Don’t know what you’re all complaining about then 🤷♂️.
I drive a 911, will retire at 50, and own my own home. Working class is doing just fine.
grue@lemmy.world 7 months ago
The middle class is the middle three household income quintiles.
From the study:
TexasDrunk@lemmy.world 6 months ago
Given the purchasing power of $100k, I feel like those numbers are woefully out of date. Not saying you’re wrong, only that the numbers themselves need to be reevaluated in light of what has happened in the last 5 years (and started well before that).
Otherwise, “middle class” is meaningless because it doesn’t represent purchasing power, only an arbitrary number.
Black_Char@kbin.social 7 months ago
Just tells me I've been nothing but poor my entire life
HubertManne@kbin.social 6 months ago
Yeah the real story is what was the middle class is now lower and upper class is now middle and you have to be wealthy to be upper. ie - modest stand alone houses are doctor/lawyer territory and having a mcmansion is like business owners.
sonori@beehaw.org 7 months ago
Generally the definitions i’ve seen economists use is that the middle class is defined as people who earn the majority of their money from an actual salary instead of stocks, either as bonuses or from investments, and as such are working class and not part of the ownership class, but who can also lose their job and have six months of savings to comfortably find a new one and as such are not poor either.