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Yes, the word is used very differently in the UK vs. the US. In the UK "middle class" means wealthier than average, a professional (manager, doctor, lawyer, pro
by not2b 5y ago
Yes, the word is used very differently in the UK vs. the US. In the UK "middle class" means wealthier than average, a professional (manager, doctor, lawyer, professor, etc), what we used to call a "yuppie", while your average laborer is "working class". In the US almost everyone but the poor and the very well off are called middle class.
- opportune 5y agoIn the US the term “Professional-Managerial Class” or PMC is catching on in certain circles to try to represent this. There’s also the term “upper middle class” which really just means middle class in most cases. One difference in the US and a lot of European countries, to be fair, is that our tax/retirement policies encourage you to acquire significant amounts of personal capital. So there may be a big qualitative difference between PMC members here and elsewhere in terms of actual wealth. We are too far gone to relabel middle class though, it’s a lost cause. Lots of working class people (even on the low end of incomes) see themselves as middle class.
- astrange 5y agoPeople with a house and 401k do (justly) expect themselves to live off capital at some point, and therefore are middle class rather than working class. Though they might also think the underclass like farm migrants are working-class.
- neaden 5y agoMiddle class in England used to mean wealthy but without any actual title. Since the US lacks entitled people (meant in a literal way) there was no one for the term upper class to apply too, so I think everything else just had to move around to adjust for that.