American middle class
[2][3] Middle-class persons commonly have a comfortable standard of living, significant economic security, considerable work autonomy and rely on their expertise to sustain themselves.
[5] The middle classes are very influential as they encompass the majority of voters, writers, teachers, journalists and editors.
For people on the bottom and the top of the wage scale the phrase connotes a certain Regular Joe cachet.
Those households more or less at the center of society may be referred to as being part of the American middle or "middle-middle class" in vernacular language use.
[2][4] The lower middle class needs two income earners in order to sustain a comfortable standard of living, while many upper middle class households can maintain a similar standard of living with just one income earner.
[13][14] The "professional–managerial class" consists mostly of highly educated white collar salaried professionals, whose work is largely self-directed.
[17] According to sociologists such as Dennis Gilbert, James M. Henslin, Joseph Hickey, and William Thompson, the upper middle class constitutes 15% of the population.
The key to the success of the upper-middle-class is the growing importance of educational certification... its lifestyles and opinions are becoming increasingly normative for the whole society.
It is in fact a porous class, open to people... who earn the right credentials.Values and mannerisms are difficult to pinpoint for a group encompassing millions of persons.
William Thompson and Joseph Hickey noted that upper middle class individuals have a more direct and confident manner of speech.
[2] In her 1989 publication Effects of Social Class and Interactive Setting on Maternal Speech, Erica Hoff-Ginsberg found that among her surveyed subjects, "upper-middle class mothers talked more per unit of time and sustained longer interactions with children".
She also found that the speech of upper middle-class mothers differs "in its functional, discourse, and lexico-syntactic properties", from those in the working class.
[19] Upper middle-class manners tend to require individuals to engage in conversational discourse with rather distant associates and to abstain from sharing excessive personal information.
[20] Further research also suggests that working-class parents emphasize conformity, traditional gender roles, and the adherence to external standards in their children, such as being neat and clean and "[believing] in strict leadership".
Upper middle class children were largely taught to adhere to internal standards, with curiosity, individuality, self-direction, and openness to new ideas being emphasized.
Seen from a sociological perspective based on class-cleavages, the majority of Americans can be described as members of the working class.
[24] As qualified personnel become scarce for relatively important, responsible, and complex occupations income increases, following the economic theory of scarcity resulting in value.
They have data that shows the majority of workers are not paid to share their ideas, are closely supervised, and do not enjoy independence in their jobs.
As housing costs increase, the middle class is squeezed and forced to live in less desirable areas making upward mobility more difficult.
One is that journalists, commentators, writers, professors, economists, and political scientists, who are essential in shaping public opinion, are almost exclusively members of the professional middle class.
Considering the overwhelming presence of professional middle-class persons in post secondary education, another essential instrument in regards to shaping public opinion, it should come as no surprise that the lifestyle exclusive to this quasi-elite has become indicative of the American mainstream itself.
Typical occupations for members of the middle class are those identified as being part of "the professions" and often include managerial duties as well, with all being white collar: accountants, tenured professors, psychologists, physicians, engineers, lawyers, commissioned military officers, architects, journalists, mid-level corporate managers, writers, economists, political scientists, urban planners, financial managers, registered nurses (RNs), pharmacists, and analysts.
[15] As for the lower middle class, other less prestigious occupations, many sales positions, entry-level management, secretaries, etc., would be included.
[32] In addition to professionals whose work is largely self-directed and includes managerial duties, many other less privileged members of the statistical middle class would find themselves in semi-independent to independent white collar positions.
