Documents middle class 34 results

"In this paper, we address two empirical puzzles: Why are cross-country differences in the division of labour between public and private education funding so large and why are they politically sustainable in the long term? We argue that electoral institutions play a crucial role in shaping politico-economic distributive coalitions that affected the original division of labour in education financing. In proportional representation systems, the lower and middle classes formed a coalition supporting the establishment of a system with a large share of public funding. In majoritarian systems, in contrast, the middle class voters aligned with the upper income class and supported private education spending instead. Once established, institutional arrangements create feedback effects on the micro-level of attitudes, reinforcing political support even among upper middle classes in public systems. These hypotheses are tested empirically both on the micro level of preferences as well as on the macro level with aggregate data and survey data from the ISSP for 20 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries."

"The relative backwardness of the Portuguese economy represents a useful basis to revisit the role of the middle classes in processes of change. Using a predominantly economic representation for the middle classes, our analysis shows that, in recent times, Portuguese middle-income individuals have featured substantial resilience in terms of their capacity to access an increasing share of national income (only slightly interrupted by a more stable trend since the crisis). This appears to contradict the widespread view that the current crisis is undermining the middle classes more than other groups. However, we also show that relative changes are only part of the story of a country that, 30 years after joining the EU, remains in a low-income trajectory and that, as one of the outcomes of the recent crisis, is further impoverishing."

"By employing a highly educated workforce and providing, on average, better employment and working conditions than the private sector, the public sector has been a traditional nurturer of the middle classes in Greece. This role was neutralised by the harsh austerity policies that are being implemented since 2010 and are responsible for the Greek Great Depression. The public sector as an employer is under attack and welleducated young people - especially women - are prevented from entering and joining the middle classes. On the other hand, the public sector has contributed to the resilience of the middle classes under austerity. In spite of the erosion in publicsector wage and pension premiums and the narrowing of public-private differentials, better working conditions for the employees and better pensions for those retiring have been preserved."

"This essay demonstrates the importance of the contributions made to the evolution of the middle class by independently acquired market incomes, the redistribution of incomes resulting from transfers and taxation, and the changing patterns of household formation as reflected by the equivalisation of incomes. The consequent reallocation of households over the classes (poor, middle, and rich) is measured by the changes in gross incomes of the shifting households. This shows that the direct share of the middle class in market incomes is small and has shrunk significantly - to the advantage of the rich class, which has expanded strongly. This is due to the upward shift of labour earnings, especially of two-earner households. However, taxation and the equivalisation of incomes largely neutralise the decline of the middle class. An important implication is that many two-earner households obtain rich earnings in the labour market initially, mostly by combining middle-class jobs, but they can afford only a middle-class lifestyle."

"In international comparison, Germany can be characterised as an inclusive Bismarckian welfare state with a broadly based middle class. Since the mid-1990s, however, the economic basis of middle-class prosperity and security has been crumbling. The article investigates the development of the German middle class from a labour market perspective. The explosion of the low-wage sector, as well as an increasingly unequal distribution of working time among households, is weakening the economic basis of the middle class. These developments came along with an erosion of the previously inclusive wage system, which was caused by the deregulation of the labour market and the weakening of unions' bargaining power."

"Taking a broad historical perspective, this article analyses the development of the Swedish class structure. During the last decades, Sweden experienced a relative decrease in its middle class and a stronger polarisation of its class structure. Three potential factors can explain this development: changes in labour market behaviour, a reduction of the extent of decommodification of the Swedish welfare state and large structural changes in employment and occupational structure. We show that the long-term tendency towards an upgrading of occupational structure in Sweden has benefitted the upper middleincome and the top-income groups. Indeed, the large investment in research and development, the expansion of education and the increase in the demand of high-skilled jobs have limited the tendency towards job polarisation found in liberal market-orientated welfare states. Weakly linked to the modifications in the skill structure, the decrease of the middle class appears to be better explained by the postponement of entry into the labour market related to the expansion of education and by social protection reforms that negatively affected the disposable income of vulnerable groups."

"France is one of the European countries where the middle class defined according to an incomebased approach has been relatively numerous and stable since 1990. Our analysis confirms the hypothesis that the French labour market features a significant dualism: compared to lower-income groups, the middle class is relatively protected from unemployment and from the worsening of working conditions. Several reasons may explain this relative stability: occupational dynamics, the labour force participation trend, and social regulations."

"La bourgeoisie triomphante du XIXe siècle a disparu. Ses petits-enfants se fondent désormais dans le décor d'anciens quartiers populaires, célèbrent la mixité sociale et le respect de l'Autre. Finis les Rougon-Macquart, bienvenue chez les hipsters... Bénéficiaire des bienfaits de la mondialisation, cette nouvelle bourgeoisie en oublie jusqu'à l'existence d'une France d'en bas, boutée hors des nouvelles citadelles que sont devenues les métropoles. Pendant ce temps, dans la France périphérique, les classes populaires coupent les ponts avec la classe politique, les syndicats et les médias. Leurs nouvelles solidarités, leur souverainisme n'intéressent personne. Le grand marronnage des classes populaires, comme avant elles celui des esclaves qui fuyaient les plantations, a commencé. On croyait la lutte des classes enterrée, voici son grand retour..."

"The living conditions and well-being of the middle class are traditionally considered an expression of how society is progressing. Yet growing inequality and the polarization of incomes observed in Western countries due to globalization, the recession and rapid technological change, is leading to what has been described as a “malaise of the middle class”. This article presents the evolution of the income distribution in selected Western countries and discusses the possible impact of the threat created by downward mobility and the erosion of the middle class in today's society."

"S'il n'est pas possible, compte tenu de la disparité des sociétés et des contextes propres aux différents pays du monde, de déterminer avec précision, et exhaustivement, quelles seront les évolutions sociales du monde dans les prochaines décennies, un certain nombre de tendances lourdes et structurantes, en revanche, peuvent être relevées en cette matière. Comme le montre ici Julien Damon, à partir de sa contribution au Rapport Vigie 2016, quatre grandes tendances méritent attention : le recul de la pauvreté dans le monde ; la poursuite de l'affirmation des classes moyennes dans les pays émergents, et les conséquences qui en découlent en termes de consommation ; la progression de l'urbanisation ; et un renforcement du poids des religions. Ces tendances, certes, affectent de manière très différente les pays pauvres et les pays riches ; elles n'en demeurent pas moins déterminantes s'agissant de l'évolution du monde et des sociétés qui le façonneront demain."Mots clefs : Pauvreté | Religion | Classe moyenne | Inégalité sociale | Villes