Middle class, a multidimensional phenomenon: new research approaches

Abstract

A vast internal heterogeneity characterizes the classic category of middle class. Under a single label coexist individuals and families with very different income levels, lifestyles and political ideas. Within the middle class, salaried and non-salaried workers, people with skills acquired in the formal education system and other self-taught, public and private sector workers are brought together. Professionals, merchants, accountants, office workers, managers and teachers are unified in only one denomination. This empirical diversity may seem a hindrance; but as Raymond Aron suggested, many current historiographical and ethnographic investigations insist that this should be the starting point.