Opinion: Middle class? Who knows

I approach writing this column with trepidation. Social class is a complex and little-understood term. About 75 years ago, a sociologist name Lloyd Warner described six social classes along a continuum: Upper-upper class, Lower-upper, Upper-middle, Lower-middle, Upper-lower, and Lower-lower. This configuration has been used as a matter of convenience over the years although any respectable sociologist understands that nobody knows how many social classes really exist because of regional variations and definitions.

Economic determinism

Newsweek has published its research on “How Much It Takes to Be Middle Class.” Based on several studies that are cited in the article, “middle class is defined as households with incomes between two-thirds and double the national median household annual income — which is currently $77,719…” 

The article also informs us, “Incomes can determine where people choose to live and affect people’s housing and other standard-of-living indicators.” But then the article goes on to show that WHERE they live is the major determinate of whether their income is significant enough to make them “middle class.” Here are some examples.

Middle class, by state

If you live in Massachusetts, you will need a minimum household income of $69,900 to be middle class. Close behind it is Maryland where it takes $69,600. Then New Jersey, where one must make $69,500.

Frankly, I was shocked when I saw the magazine’s estimate that a family could be middle-class in California if it had an income of $66,800. Where, in California? And I was re-shocked when I saw that a family income of $67,200 was all that was necessary to be middle-class in Hawaii! Maybe that’s true on Islands that I haven’t visited. I’ve been to Oahu, Maui, and Kawai, and an income of $67,200 would be just scrapping by for a family of four on any of them.

It’s much less expensive if you’re in any of the states that border the Great Lakes: Illinois, $55,500; Indiana, $48,000; Michigan, $48,300; Minnesota, $58,100; Ohio, $50,300, Wisconsin, $51,700. The states of the Deep South require the lowest family incomes to be in the middle class. In Alabama a family can be middle class with an income of $44,400; Louisiana, $40,700, and Mississippi, $39,400.

Interestingly, retail and home prices seem to be scaled according to the relative incomes of the population. For example, in the mid-1980s I had to spend a week in Olive Branch, Mississippi, for an educational conference. While there, I saw an advertisement in the local newspaper for a refrigerator for $595. It was the same make and model that I had recently purchased in California for $859. 

One night, I didn’t want the dinner that was served, so I went to the hotel’s bar. It was “happy hour,” and free food was set out for the clientele. I was told that happy hour lasted all night. Before I left to go to my room, I had two Tanqueray-and-tonic drinks and two delicious sandwiches with meat and cheese which I assembled myself. I had put a $10 bill on the bar when I sat down, so I asked the bartender how much more I owed. She handed me a five-dollar bill and said, “Here’s your change.” I left it as a tip. When I de-planed in San Francisco, a friend and I stopped at the bar before heading for our next flights, mine to Bakersfield, his to Los Angeles. I had a Michelob beer. $9.50.

Multiple factors

Sociology teaches that income alone is not a good indicator of social class. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I had a great example to give my students: The Beverly Hillbillies. That was a TV sitcom about a poor Tennessee family, living on a plot of land where they struck oil. They became instant multi-millionaires and moved to Beverly Hills. They lived in a mansion with a huge swimming pool, which they called a “ce-ment” pond. Their lives hadn’t changed; they just lived in a better neighborhood and had a very expensive house.

I don’t know of a good definition for “social class.” When Warner completed his studies, he said that social class is a matter of “life-style.” In the books that I’ve written, I claim that socio-economic status (SES) is about as close as we can come to defining any given social class objectively. SES is a combination of education, occupation, and income. 

Fitting in

I think that it would be difficult to fit into the middle class without the appropriate amount of education. To be in the lower-middle class today, I think that a high-school education is necessary. To be in the upper-middle class usually requires a college education because of the types of occupation that are correlated with this status. Generally, although there are glaring exceptions, skilled service work, like plumbing and electrical repair, is associated with lower-middle class status. And this is where it gets tricky. Many plumbers and electricians have significantly higher incomes than many teachers, who require a college education. Which, if either, is “upper-middle class?”

Another anomaly can be discerned when we try to separate the upper-upper class from the lower-upper class. The upper-upper class is by far the smallest social class in the U.S. It is composed of the descendants of the captains of industry of a century or more ago. Today, their occupations are mainly in the field of finance, usually managing the family’s investments. For the most part, they live quiet lives and highly value privacy. The lower-upper class is the class of new wealth. This class has a higher income than the upper-upper class; it is populated by the billionaires or near billionaires, rather than millionaires. However, their wealth has not been legitimized by a long history of upper-class standing.

When Jacqueline Bouvier married John F. Kennedy, it was big news in Boston because Jackie was from a Canadian upper-upper-class family, and Kennedy money was new wealth, and therefore lower-upper class. To you and me, that wouldn’t make any difference, and that leads into the last point that I’ll make. You belong to the social class that accepts you.

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Jim Glynn is Professor Emeritus of Sociology. He may be contacted at j_glynn@att.net.