What does "middle class" mean in America?

Question

In the UK the phrase "middle class" refers to a large proportion of the population who, broadly speaking, earn more money than they need to pay rent and bills, clothe themselves, eat food etc. There are of course many many subcategories and the terminology itself is slightly outdated now but about 75% of people currently label themselves as middle class.

A British politician could never stand on a platform saying they wanted to support the middle class specifically as this would be tantamount to saying that they didn't care about 25% of the country who are poor and/or working class people and this would be political suicide.

However, in US political speech, I can hardly hear a politician speak without their espousing their love of the middle class. For example the title of this US presidential website is "A better bargain for the middle class".

What does "middle class" mean in this context in the US and why don't Americans also hear this as a callous disregard for the poorest sections of society?

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There have been some interesting answers but I feel they are at least partially missing the point. It is also true that in the UK if you could get 75% of people to vote for you you would be very happy. However, in the UK if you explicitly said "We are the party of the middle class", not even many people who were middle class would find this attractive. I wonder if in American "middle class" means hard working or something similar rather than really being a class description?

Answer 1

The claim to "support" the middle class is to say they will have economic/social policies that keep those in the middle class from falling lower and to help lower class move up. (Their policies invariably do just the opposite, IMO.)

There is a widespread feeling that the middle class is disappearing and their standing is being eroded from under their feet. The cause and solution is different depending on world view/political party.

Republicans generally believe the middle class is being taxed into poverty to subsidize the poor.

Democrats tend to believe that the rich are running monopolies with the intention of turning us all into below living wage slaves.

Libertarians would say we're being taxed into poverty by a parasitic state.

So to claim to "support" the middle class is to identify with one of these views and try to use it for political gain.

Answer 2

In the US in particular, most people believe that they are middle class, even if they're not (by most definitions). That poll breaks it down into five categories:

• Only two percent of people identified as upper class.

• A larger chunk claim to be upper-middle (13%).

• Self-identifying middle-classers make up 42%,

• Working class is an additional 31%.

• Only 10% of the population claim to be lower class.

However, politicians don't talk about five categories, they talk about three: upper, middle, and lower. This has taken on the connotation of rich/okay/poor in national discussions.

So if you take a broad definition of "middle class" as the three middle classes (upper-middle don't think of themselves as rich, working don't think of themselves as poor), then you can appeal to about 88% of the population. That's a big demographic to target, and it's no wonder they focus so much on it.

The two main parties have done a fair job of splitting up the remaining classes, with one side having the appearance of caring for lower more, and the other for upper, but in reality, that only really matters if they aren't getting the larger share of "the middle class".

Answer 3

There are two broader themes that shape American love for the middle-class.

The first is the American dream and the Protestant work ethic. Americans generally believe in the just world hypothesis, meaning people get what they deserve. In this worldview, people are poor because they are lazy or otherwise immoral. This obviously creates negative attitudes toward the poor, and creates a strong incentive for folks who are fairly poor not to think of themselves as such.

The other is that America had a heyday of a large and prosperous middle class in the mid-20th century, and Americans miss this era. Republicans like President Trump evoke this with slogans like "Make America Great Again", and Democrats like Elizabeth Warren also evoke this legacy and emphasize the growth of economic inequality over the last few decades.

Basically, Americans are suspicious of the moral worth of both the rich and the poor, and are hesitant of politicians too closely associated with either. Similarly, Americans don't consider themselves to belong to either of these groups, even if statistics might label them otherwise. Therefore, when politicians claim to support the middle class, Americans hear themselves, even if the actual effects of policies have substantially different impacts on above average and below average earners.

Answer 4

Income inequality is a popular political theme with the Democratic Party these days, who are pushing the message that the wealthiest 10% are getting all of the benefits of the economic recovery, while everyone else has stagnant or falling wages. A faction of the Republican Party is pushing austerity budgets, including cuts to social programs that are popular with the middle class, such as Social Security (government-funded retirement pension) and Medicare (government-funded retirement health insurance). The Republicans are also trying to pass tax cuts, which mostly benefit the wealthy immediately, at the same time they are pushing austerity on the spending side. (The Republicans justify these tax cuts as stimulus to the economy that will foster growth that will benefit everyone).

So the Democrats are portraying the Republicans as the party of the rich, and themselves as the party of everyone else, middle class and poor. The truly impoverished do have a safety net in place already, with social welfare payments, food allowances and government-provided health insurance. There are also many popular stereotypes that depict the recipients of government assistance as lazy, entitled, etc., so it is politically risky to campaign for programs that benefit only the poor. Most politicians will not repeat these stereotypes in public, but they are popularized by talk radio, social media, etc. Since the middle class comprise the majority of eligible voters, the Democratic Party has been targeting them in its message, while continuing to preserve and enhance the programs that target the poor.

The Republicans will counter this with the message that they are not indifferent to the poor -- they want to enable growth to create more jobs that will end the "cycle of dependence" that the poor are trapped in, as well as benefiting the middle class.

Answer 5

In addition to many of the things others have said (such as the fact that the middle class composes a huge part of the population), the middle class is one of the primary drivers of the economy. It is the middle class' disposable income that fuels consumption, and this consumption fuels the need for labor and capital investment, and all this activity results in more profits for the wealthy and more taxes for the government.

When you have a declining middle class, you wind up with reduced spending. Reduced spending means less revenue and profits. Less revenue and profits means less employment. Less employment means less tax revenue for the government and more public assistance hand outs.

So it is actually vital for the economy that the middle class doesn't slip into poverty, because the middle class is who buys things. With no one to buy things, there are no profits, no jobs and no taxes collected. The poor can't afford non-essential items, and the rich don't spend enough to keep the entire economy afloat by themselves. It is the middle class that drives the economy.

In addition to the political benefits of tailoring your political message to a majority of the voters, it is important economically for the middle class to remain strong, for everyone's sake.