Africa's Middle Classes

Abstract

Since the early 21st century, the middle classes of the Global South became a focus of attention. However, a precarious minimum income was all it took to be considered middle class. But who exactly is middle class? As the term is applied, it should certainly not be confused with Marxist theories of class. It refers to a socio-economic status somewhere between the highest and lowest echelons of society. What constitutes middle class remains all too nebulous. This article casts doubt on the positive political and economic impact and role ascribed to the declared growth of African middle classes. It argues that middle classness is a construct, which stresses the continued vagueness and fragility of this social segment in societies and cautions of too optimistic assessments when it comes to its role.

Ironies of accomplishment: negative aspiration, economic resentment and the myth of the middle class on Nairobi’s new urban outskirts

“…From this perspective, the idea of a nascent middle class on a unilinear trajectory looks too optimistic (cf. Melber 2022). We are looking at a finer gradient (Guyer 2004: 132) that conceals a much greater degree of proximity between the new middle class of Nairobi’s high-rise communities and the peri-urban ‘left behind’.…”

“…That such one-off displays are seen to convey economic achievement, however, throws into relief their surface-level nature. As scholars have observed, Africa’s nascent middle class remains not only economically precarious (Mercer and Lemanski 2020) but something of an illusion in the first place – an impression created by the increased visibility of urban styles of conspicuous consumption, which only serves to conceal its shallow economic basis all the more readily (Melber 2022: 211–12; see also, e.g., Spronk 2012; Gastrow 2020: 520; cf. Ferguson 1999: 82–6).…”

Introduction to the Handbook of African Economic Development

“…Rapid urbanization is also associated with the growth of the middle classes on the continent, although there are substantial debates about how these are defined; whether through income, consumption, assets, or other measures or combinations of the previous, making it a somewhat nebulous concept as it is applied on the continent (Melber 2022). The population challenge facing urban sub-Saharan Africa in particular is intense, with its population projected by the UN Population Division to expand from roughly 1 billion to 3.6 billion by the end of the century (Rotberg 2020).…”