From wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class): > The modern usage of the term "middle-class", however,

From wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class): > The modern usage of the term "middle-class", however, dates to the 1913 UK Registrar-General's report, in which the statistician T.H.C. Stevenson identified the middle class as those falling between the upper-class and the working-class. "Middle" literally stands for "between" working-class and upper-class. What do you think it's in the middle of? You can also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class#Academic_models https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_middle_class#Academic... for a comparison of different contemporary models of the American middle-class specifically (all of which place the middle class in the middle of working-class and some other class, obviously).