It certainly means either: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/other%20half https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/other%20half I'd say most of us s

It certainly means either: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/other%20half https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/other%20half I'd say most of us see "the other half" as the rich, because we see ourselves as poor, relatively speaking [0]. I think Riis titled his book to give the rich an idea how bad things were for others, to try and draw some empathy from them. 0 - of course, wealth distribution isn't 50/50 today (and probably never was)