7.3b The Middle Class
The middle class is the largest social class category in the United States, now comprising about half of all households (Kochhar, 2024). The percentage of U.S. households that are middle class, however, has declined. In the 1970s, 6 of 10 households were middle class (see Figure 7.9).
Middle-class households typically rely on income from work and are in occupations that often require a credential (Wright, 2015). Many sociological studies of the middle class emphasize the key role of a four-year or higher college degree in achieving and keeping middle-class status (see Marsh et al., 2007).
Figure 7.9
Percentage of U.S. Adults in Each Social Class Group, 1971 – 2023
Data based on Kochhar, R. (2024, May 31). The state of the American middle class. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2024/05/31/the-state-of-the-american-middle-class/. Copyright 2024 by Pew Research Center.
Some sociologists distinguish between the working class and the middle class based on whether a person’s job requires a credential. For example, Damaske (2021) considered her research participants to be working class if their occupation did not need a college degree, and middle class if they held a professional job that needed a college degree. In contrast, Zaloom (2019) focused on what someone’s income could buy. She defined her research participants as middle class based on their ability to pay for their children’s college education.
The experience of being middle class also varies along racial lines. For example, research shows that Black middle-class households are more likely to provide financial support to extended family, known as kin support, than White middle-class households (Hill, 2022; O’Brien, 2012; see also Stack, 1974). Financial kin support is more frequent among upwardly mobile Black households.
Hill (2022) interviewed 41 Black middle-class families. She found that those who moved up from a lower-class background were more likely to provide kin support to lower-income family members, such as their nieces and nephews, out of a sense of reciprocity. In contrast, Black middle-class households with middle-class upbringings either did not provide kin support or did so only in the form of repayable loans. Kin support is one reason why a subgroup among Black middle-class households are less able to build wealth, accounting for part of the wealth gap between Black and White middle-class households (O’Brien, 2012) (see Chapter 9).
Photo 7.8
Black Middle-Class Families More Often Provide Kin Support
