Re: [Marxism] Request for Information: US Middle Class

["Jesse Jack" <jjack99645@xxxxxxxxx>]

> If anybody could point me to
> some sources, articles, works or provide information or criticism on any
> of
> these questions and theories, I'd appreciate it greatly.



I'll give you more armchair sociology than actual statistics, but maybe my
opinion will be worth a read.

I would consider petty-bourgeois and "middle class" to be the same thing,
because I believe that people who have a common position in relation to
property ownership have the same class interest regardless of income. A
richer proletarian is still a proletarian; he/she probably only brings home
a bigger paycheck because his labor generates a greater profit, or the
working conditions on the job are significantly worse. No one would work in
the Prudhoe Bay oilfields for three weeks without a day off if it paid
minimum wage with no overtime or benefits.

The only difference, in my opinion, is that the larger the paycheck a person
brings home, the less brutally class struggle affects them, making it easier
for them to fall prey false conciousness, racism, religion, etc. The
division of people in the same actual class (as determined by property
relations) into different income brackets only serves to divide suburban,
white "soccer moms" against urban, black "welfare queens".

In any event, if you look at classes this way, the "middle class" is
actually shrinking because genuine small business ownership is on the
decline. In my experience, there are three paths for a small business owner:
A) selling out to a bigger corporation, B) working a second job for someone
else and using the small business for supplemental income or a hobby, or C)
failure. All paths lead to eventually becoming an employee for someone else.


Just my .02
Jesse
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