12.01.2008

The “Middle” Class

The Origins of the “Middle Class”

There is a reason that this article has quotations around Middle. If one speaks of a middle it usually denotes “in between,” but in this case in between what?

There was a time when the term “middle class” had a definite economic and sociological meaning. Back in the Middle Ages about 500 years ago, the middle class meant in between the upper class of nobleman and lower class of serfs. Feudalism had several classes: feudal lords , theologians, artisans, and finally the lowest rung of the ladder-the serfs that went with the land owned by the feudal lords Each class was clearly defined into law that reflected feudal society.

Presently this number has been drastically altered.

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