Upper middle class
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In
The American upper middle class is defined similarly using income, education, and occupation as the predominant indicators.[1] In the United States, the upper middle class is defined as consisting mostly of white-collar professionals who not only have above-average personal incomes and advanced educational degrees[1] but also a higher degree of autonomy in their work.[2] The main occupational tasks of upper-middle-class individuals tend to center on conceptualizing, consulting, and instruction.[3]
American upper middle class
The
The upper middle class has grown ... and its composition has changed. Increasingly salaried managers and professionals have replaced individual business owners and independent professionals. 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.
— Dennis Gilbert, The American Class Structure, 1998[7]
In addition to having autonomy in their work, above-average incomes, and advanced educations, the upper middle class also tends to be influential, setting trends and largely shaping public opinion.
Income
While many Americans cite
Sociologists Dennis Gilbert, William Thompson and Joseph Hickey estimate the upper middle class to constitute roughly 15% of the population. Using the 15% figure one may conclude that the American upper middle class consists, strictly in an income sense, of professionals with personal incomes in excess of $62,500 ($83,000 in 2020 dollars), who commonly reside in households with six-figure incomes.[5][10][13] The difference between personal and household income can be explained by considering that 76% of households with incomes exceeding $90,000 (the top 20%, $140,000 to cross this threshold in 2020 dollars) had two or more income earners.[10] In 2020, the threshold for entering the top 15% of American household incomes is $166,000 [14]
Data | Top third | Top quarter | Top quintile | Top 15% | Top 10% | Top 5% | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Household income[15] | |||||||||
Lower threshold (annual gross income) | $65,000 | $80,000 | $91,705 | $100,000 | $118,200 | $166,200 | |||
Exact percentage of households | 34.72% | 25.60% | 20.00% | 17.80% | 10.00% | 5.00% | |||
Personal income (age 25+)[16] | |||||||||
Lower threshold (annual gross income) | $37,500 | $47,500 | $52,500 | $62,500 | $75,000 | $100,000 | |||
Exact percentage of individuals | 33.55% | 24.03% | 19.74% | 14.47% | 10.29% | 5.63% |
The above income thresholds may vary greatly based on region due to significant differences in average income based on region and urban, suburban, or rural development. In more expensive suburbs, the threshold for the top 15% of income earners may be much higher. For example, in 2006 the
Values
Upper-middle-class people tend to highly value tertiary education for themselves and their children, favoring the pursuit of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.[citation needed]
Political ideology is not found to be correlated with social class; however, a statistical relationship is seen between the level of one's educational attainment and one's likelihood of subscribing to a particular political ideology. In terms of income, liberals tend to be tied with pro-business conservatives.[17] Most mass affluent households tend to be more right-leaning on fiscal issues but more left-leaning on social issues.[18] The majority, between 50% and 60%, of households with incomes above $50,000 overall, not all of whom are upper middle class,[7] supported the Republican Party in the 2000, 2004, and 2006 elections.[19][20] Those with postgraduate degrees in education statistically favor the Democratic Party.[20][21][22] For example, in 2005, 72% of surveyed full-time faculty members at four-year institutions, the majority of whom would be considered upper middle class,[1] identified themselves as liberal.[23]
The upper middle class is often the dominant group to shape society and bring
British upper middle class
The upper middle class in Britain traditionally consists of the educated professionals who were born into higher-income backgrounds, such as legal professionals, executives, and surgeons. This stratum, in England, traditionally uses Received Pronunciation natively.[citation needed] A typical Mosaic geodemographic type for this group would be cultural leadership. It is also usually assumed that this class is most predominant in the home counties of South East England and the more affluent boroughs of London. Children of this group are often educated at a preparatory school until about 13 years old and then at one of the "major" or "minor" British public schools[24][25] which will typically charge fees of at least £11,500 per year per pupil (as of 2013)[26][27] followed by studying at post-graduation level.
See also
- Bildungsbürgertum
- Black elite
- Bourgeoisie
- Chungin
- Grand Burgher
- Hipster (contemporary subculture)
- Professional–managerial class
- Upper class
- Yuppie
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Thompson & Hickey 2005.
- ^ Eichar 1989.
- ^ a b c Ehrenreich 1989.
- ^ "Middle class according to The Drum Major Institute for public policy". PBS. Retrieved 25 July 2006.
- ^ a b Gilbert 1998; Thompson & Hickey 2005.
- ^ "Professional Occupations according to the US Department of Labor". Retrieved 26 July 2006.
- ^ a b Gilbert 1998.
- ^ Ehrenreich 1989; Gilbert 1998.
- ^ Levine 1998.
- ^ a b c "US Census Bureau, income quintile and top 5% household income distribution and demographic characteristics, 2006". Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2006.
- ^ "US Department of Labor, median income of registered nurses". Retrieved 2 January 2007.
- ^ "Bureau of Labor statistics data published by Monster.com, 20 highest paying jobs". Archived from the original on 27 December 2006. Retrieved 27 December 2006.
- ^ "US Census Bureau, distribution of personal income, 2006". Archived from the original on 23 December 2006. Retrieved 9 December 2006.
- ^ "Household Income Percentile Calculator for the United States in 2020". Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ a b "US Census Bureau, overall household income distribution, 2006". Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2006.
- ^ a b "US Census Bureau, personal income distribution, age 25+, 2006". Archived from the original on 19 March 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2006.
- ^ "Pew Research Center. (10 May 2005). Beyond Red vs. Blue". Archived from the original on 2 May 2007. Retrieved 12 July 2007.
- ^ Arora, Raksha; Saad, Lydia (9 December 2004). "Marketing to the Mass Affluent". Gallup Management Journal. Gallup Press. Retrieved 19 July 2007.
- ^ "CNN. (2000). Exit Poll". Archived from the original on 22 May 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
- ^ a b "CNN. (2004). Exit Poll". Retrieved 27 May 2008.
- ^ "Exit Polls", CNN.com, 2008.
- ^ "CNN. (2006). Exit Poll". Retrieved 11 July 2007.
- ^ Kurtz, Howard (29 March 2005). "College Faculties a Most Liberal Lot, Study Finds". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
- ^ Delingpole, James (17 December 2011). "Thank God I Don't Have that Ghastly Sense of Entitlement that Eton Instils". The Spectator. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Byrnes, Sholto (20 April 2010). "Who's Posher: Clegg or Cameron?". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Farndale, Nigel (28 January 2013). "Is There a Private School Prejudice?". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ^ Trainor 2000, p. 679.
Bibliography
- Comet, Catherine; Finez, Jean (2010). "Le cœur de l'élite patronale". Sociologies Pratiques (in French). 2 (21): 49–66. ISSN 2104-3787.
- ISBN 978-0-06-097333-9.
- Eichar, Douglas M. (1989). Occupation and Class Consciousness in America. Contributions in Labor Studies. Vol. 27. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISSN 0886-8239.
- ISBN 978-0-534-50520-2.
- Levine, Rhonda (1998). Social Class and Stratification. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-8476-8543-1.
- ISBN 978-0-521-41707-5.
- ISSN 1776-2995.
- Thompson, William E.; Hickey, Joseph V. (2005). Society in Focus (5th ed.). Boston: Pearson. ISBN 978-0-205-41365-2.
Further reading
- Bagley, Bruce Michael (1990). "Middle Class". In Hanratty, Dennis M.; Meditz, Sandra W. (eds.). Colombia: A Country Study (PDF) (4th ed.). Washington: Government Printing Office. pp. 87–90. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-226-92259-1.