The American Middle Class: An Economic Encyclopedia of Progress and Poverty

Writers on American life have traditionally been wary of social class. Class analysis not only reeks of European socialism but also denies some core American beliefs, namely, that social identities are fluid, that they are individual rather than collective and they are achieved by a determined effort rather than ascribed at birth. Tagging people with a class label makes it a permanent feature of their lives – or let us say semi-permanent because there is always room for social mobility. The preferred view in America is that class is one feature among many – and a highly mutable one at...