Building the case for the study of the middle class: shifting our gaze from margins to centre

Curry-Stevens, Ann

doi:10.1111/j.1468-2397.2008.00561.x

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The attention to development of the middle class in transitional countries can be explained by three important functions usually played by the middle class, namely, stabilization, upward mobility, and promoting global stability (Curry‐Stevens, 2008). On the one hand, the middle class has long been considered a major force to stabilizing society, provide political cohesion, and legitimize democratic reforms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐perceived social stratification in low‐income transitional countries

Habibov¹

2011

International Journal of Social Economics

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PurposeAgainst a background of rising inequalities in transitional countries, the purpose of this study is to focus on the analysis of the self‐perceived social stratification in the low‐income countries of the South Caucasus.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from the recent multi‐country comparative survey conducted in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, this study examines the factors explaining self‐perceived stratification in the region. Ordered logit regression model is fitted to assess the determinants of the stratification.FindingsOne of the most important findings of this paper is that the majority of the people in the examined region consider themselves as middle class, although a considerable share of the general population are actually at the lowest level of society. Self‐perceived social stratification in the countries of this region can largely be explained by a set of factors within the direct social policy domain.Practical implicationsActive promotion of job intensive economic growth, supporting small businesses, improving effectiveness of social protection policies, affordability of healthcare and education, and active integration of migrants and investment in public infrastructure should also be priorities.Social implicationsAddressing the identified policy priorities will permit counterbalancing stratification, supporting the middle class and reducing the poverty in the countries of the region.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is one of the first studies on the self‐perceived social stratification in the region of the low‐income countries of the South Caucasus.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self‐perceived social stratification in low‐income transitional countries

Habibov¹

2011

International Journal of Social Economics

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“…However, their real impacts still need to be investigated. (Thurow, 1987;Curry-Stevens, 2008;Ravallion, 2010), this approach takes the intermediary sectors of income distribution as a proxy for the middle class, and presumes that countries with a broad middle class have certain advantages such as greater political stability, less accentuated social conf licts, better quality democracy and so on.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Socioeconomic Mobility, Expectations and Attitudes Towards Inequality in Brazil

Salata

Scalon

2020

Sociol. Antropol.

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After the end of the political and economic cycle that gave rise to the phenomenon that became known as the Brazilian new middle class, in this article we argue that this reading was not limited to verifying the increase in income and consume power of thousands of families, but also framed it within a broader narrative that has hindered the sociological investigation of the phenomenon. Thus, our first objective is to develop, with the support of empirical data from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD-IBGE), an alternative interpretation of the changes observed in Brazilian society in recent years. Our second objective is to reflect, with the help of data from the Survey on the Middle Class (CESOP-UNICAMP-2008), and also from qualitative research previously prepared by the authors, on the possible impacts of these changes on the expectations of individuals and, thus, on their perceptions and attitudes towards the enormous inequalities still present in the country.

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“…We consider the enduring legacy of apartheid and the subsequent political transition by examining changes in the size and structure of the middle class in the 15 years following the political transition. However, we also consider what these observed changes mean for the future via the analytical literature that interprets these shifts as a measure of the country's economic and political prospects (Hertova et al 2010;Curry-Stevens, 2008;Rivero, et al 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Capability Threshold: Re-Examining the Definition of the Middle Class in an Unequal Developing Country

2017

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. In a polarised and highly unequal country such as South Africa, it is unlikely that a definition of the middle class that is based on an income threshold will adequately capture the political and social meanings of being middle class. We therefore propose a multi-dimensional definition, rooted in the ideas of empowerment and capability, and find that the 'empowered middle class' has expanded significantly since 1993 also across vulnerable subgroups such as blacks, female-headed households and rural inhabitants. It also is much larger than when measured in terms of income. Differing trends between the middle class defined based on income and based on capabilities is attributed to improved capabilities have not been rewarded with a proportional increases in access to the labour market. It is disconcerting that links to the labour market improved only slightly and this is attributed to sluggish labour market growth and low quality of education. We find that the middle class tend to have lower expectations around social mobility than the vulnerable. It is concerning that vulnerable individuals harbour unrealistically high expectations of the social mobility of the households and do not understand the determinants of social mobility and labour market prospectspossibly due to a mixture of heightened expectations following the political transition, but also the continued disconnection and marginalisation of vulnerable subpopulations from the mainstream economy. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SJEL Classification: I32, I38, N97, D31

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Building the case for the study of the middle class: shifting our gaze from margins to centre

Cited by 6 publications

References 12 publications

Self‐perceived social stratification in low‐income transitional countries

Self‐perceived social stratification in low‐income transitional countries

Socioeconomic Mobility, Expectations and Attitudes Towards Inequality in Brazil

The Capability Threshold: Re-Examining the Definition of the Middle Class in an Unequal Developing Country

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