American Upper Middle Class
For more details on this topic, see Upper middle class in the United States.- See American Professional/Managerial middle class for a complete overview of the American middle classes.
In the United States the term middle class and its subdivisions are an extremely vague concept as neither economists nor sociologists have precisely defined the term. There are several perceptions of the upper middle class and what the term means. In academic models the term applies to highly educated salaried professionals whose work is largely self-directed. Many have graduate degrees with educational attainment serving as the main distinguishing feature of this class. Household incomes commonly may exceed $100,000, with some smaller one-income earners earning incomes in the high 5-figure range. Typical professions for this class include lawyers, physicians, optometrists, dentists, engineers, professors, architects, economists, political scientists, pharmacists, school principals, civil service executives and civilian contractors.
| “ |
"The upper middle class has grown...and its composition has changed. Increasingly salaried managers and professionals have replaced individual business owners and independent professionals. The key to the success of the upper middle class is the growing importance of educational certification... its lifestyles and opinions are becoming increasingly normative for the whole society. It is in fact a porous class, open to people... who earn the right credentials."- Dennis Gilbert, The American Class Structure, 1998. |
” |
In addition to having autonomy in their work, above-average incomes, and advanced educations, the upper middle class also tends to be influential, setting trends and largely shaping public opinion. Overall, members of this class are also secure from economic down-turns and, unlike their counterparts in the statistical middle class, do not need to fear downsizing, corporate cost-cutting, or outsourcing—an economic benefit largely attributable to their graduate degrees and comfortable incomes, likely in the top income quintile or top third.
Read more about this topic: Upper Middle Class
Famous quotes containing the words middle class, american, upper, middle and/or class:
“Had middle class black women begun a movement in which they had labeled themselves “oppressed,” no one would have taken them seriously.”
—bell hooks (b. 1955)
“The pursuit of happiness, which American citizens are obliged to undertake, tends to involve them in trying to perpetuate the moods, tastes and aptitudes of youth.”
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–1990)
“The enemy are no match for us in a fair fight.... The young men ... of the upper class are kind-hearted, good-natured fellows, who are unfit as possible for the business they are in. They have courage but no endurance, enterprise, or energy. The lower class are cowardly, cunning, and lazy. The height of their ambition is to shoot a Yankee from some place of safety.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“The test of an adventure is that when you’re in the middle of it, you say to yourself, “Oh, now I’ve got myself into an awful mess; I wish I were sitting quietly at home.” And the sign that something’s wrong with you is when you sit quietly at home wishing you were out having lots of adventure.”
—Thornton Wilder (1897–1975)
“A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.”
—Mao Zedong (1893–1976)