Social scientists use 3 common methods to define class—by occupation, income, or education—and there is really no consensus about the “right” way to do it. Michael Zweig, a leading scholar in ...

A growing number of middle-class families are struggling to afford the basics of housing, childcare, food, transportation, and healthcare. These cost increases mean that even families classified as ...

NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Sherry Linkon, co-director of the Center for Working-Class Studies at Youngstown State University, about the difficulty of defining what "middle class" is today. We asked ...

Clive Crook is afraid of the proles. Acknowledging arguments that extreme income inequality is socially and economically unsalutary (reviewed in National Journal by Jonathan Rauch), Crook cautions ...

It seems like a simple question, but it actually has a complicated answer. It depends on how you define "middle class." "It's a sense of security," says Jeffrey Wenger, senior policy researcher at the ...

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The light on the answering machine was blinking with several messages when I came back into the house after walking the dog on a fine fall afternoon. The phone rang before I could check the messages, ...

Who makes up the middle class? Surveys suggest that half to 90 percent of Americans consider themselves members of the economic middle class. These respondents may have annual gross earnings of ...