There seems to be a lot of confusion in this article and the comments between class and income-bracket. The bourgeoisie (the historical middle class) were preci

There seems to be a lot of confusion in this article and the comments between class and income-bracket. The bourgeoisie (the historical middle class) were precisely the nouveaux riches. In Europe especially, class made a lot of sense when you could be either impoverished nobility or a wealthy son of peasants. Class was a useful category in early capitalism, but maybe less so in late capitalism (especially in America where we are all essentially bourgeois). I think this survey, if anything, shows the increasing irrelevance of "class" in our society. There is no more class, there is just income, wealth, etc.