{{short description|Social class which is a sub-division of the greater middle class}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}} {{Globalize|article|USA|2name=the United States|date=February 2012}}
In developed nations around the world, the '''lower middle class''' is a subdivision of the greater middle class. Universally, the term refers to the group of middle class households or individuals who have not attained the status of the middle or upper middle class associated with the higher realms of the middle class, hence the name.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_01.html |title= Graphic: How Class Works |work=The New York Times |date=15 May 2005 |access-date=23 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Brooks |first=David |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/opinion/18brooks.html |title= The Formerly Middle Class |work=The New York Times |date=17 November 2008 |access-date=23 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Decca Aitkenhead |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/oct/20/britishidentity.socialexclusion1 |title=Class rules |work=The Guardian |location=UK |access-date=23 November 2011 |date=19 October 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Andy Beckett |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/jul/24/middle-class-in-decline-society |title=Is the British middle class an endangered species? |work=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=23 November 2011 |date=24 July 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Johnson |first=Reed |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-ca-africanamerican31-2009may31,0,7855305.story |title= Center stage: middle-class African Americans |work=Los Angeles Times |date=31 May 2009 |access-date=23 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/08/19/much-of-indian-middle-class-is-almost-poor/ |title= Much of Indian 'Middle Class' Is Almost Poor | last = Lahiri | first = Tripti |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=19 August 2010 |access-date=23 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704094104575143951112969586 |title= Middle Class Starts to Drift From Obama | first = Jonathan | last = Weisman |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=26 March 2010 |access-date=23 November 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704515904576076622892749928 |title= In Nigeria, Used Cars Are a Road to Status | last = Connors | first = Will |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=18 January 2011 |access-date=23 November 2011}}</ref>
== United Kingdom == {{Main|Social class in the United Kingdom}} The British lower middle class, when described historically, primarily consisted of office workers: when describing class segregation of housing in the Nottingham of 1901, clerks, bookkeepers, estate agents and teachers are described as having been lower middle class.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hayes |date=2009 |title='Calculating class': housing, lifestyle and status in the provincial English city, 1900–1950 |url=http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7727/1/200070_6585%20Hayes%20Publisher.pdf |journal=Urban History |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=127–128 |doi=10.1017/S0963926808006007 |s2cid=73691042}}</ref> Researchers today sometimes equate NRS social grade C1, "Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial, administrative and professional",<ref>{{cite web |title=Social Grade |url=https://www.nrs.co.uk/nrs-print/lifestyle-and-classification-data/social-grade/ |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=National Readership Survey |publisher=The NRS}}</ref> with "lower middle class".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kaufman |first1=Eric |date=2 July 2014 |title=London is less integrated than the rest of the country, a report finds |url=https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/london-less-integrated-than-rest-of-country/ |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=London School of Economics Blogs |publisher=LSE}}</ref>
In the nineteenth century, the middle and lower middle classes were able to live in suburbs due to the development of horse-drawn omnibuses and railways.<ref name="bl.uk">{{cite web |title=Suburbia |url=https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/suburbia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151113134931/http://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/suburbia |archive-date=13 November 2015 |access-date=25 May 2018 |website=British Library}}</ref> One radical Liberal politician (Charles Masterman), writing in 1909 used "the Middle Classes" and "the suburbans" synonymously.<ref name="bl.uk" /> In the early twenty-first century, there were no Mosaic 2010 geodemographic groups where the proportion of residents in NRS social grade C1 was rated as "high" or "low" in the 2010 Index; it was rated as "average" in all Mosaic groups,<ref name="auto">Mosaic 2010 Grand Index</ref> whether these were of a suburban, rural, city or small-town nature.
Some researchers conceive of the lower middle class as consisting of those who work in lower-grade service-sector managerial jobs or semi-professions (the lower-grade service class in Oesch 2006) and small business owners.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vivyan |first1=Nick |date=2020 |title='Do humble beginnings help? How politician class roots shape voter evaluations.' |url=https://dro.dur.ac.uk/29368/1/29368.pdf |journal=Electoral Studies |volume=63 |page=102093 (16 in pre-print) |doi=10.1016/j.electstud.2019.102093 |s2cid=211354408 |access-date=2023-01-28}}</ref> Prior to the expansion in higher education from the 1960s onwards, members of this class generally did not have a university education.
Members of the lower middle class typically speak in local accents, although relatively mild. Votes in this area are split and minority parties will have a stronger proportion.
== United States == {{Main|American middle class}} In American society, the middle class may be divided into two or three sub-groups. When divided into two parts, the lower middle class, also sometimes simply referred to as "middle class", consists of roughly one third of households, roughly twice as large as the upper middle or managerial class. Common occupation fields are semi-professionals, such as lower-level managers, small business owners and skilled craftsmen. These individuals commonly have some college education or perhaps a Bachelor's degree and earn a comfortable living. Already among the largest social classes, rivaled only by the working class, the American lower middle class is diverse and growing.<ref name="Gilbert 2008">{{Harvnb|Gilbert|2008}}.</ref><ref name="Thom&Hick 2007">{{Harvnb|Thompson|Hickey|2004}}.</ref>
Though not common in sociological models, the middle class may be divided into three sections in vernacular language usage. In this system the term lower middle class relates to the demographic referred to as working class in most sociological models. Yet some class models, such as those by sociologist Leonard Beeghley, suggest the middle class to be one cohesive socio-economic demographic, including the demographics otherwise referred to as lower, simply middle or upper middle class in one group comprising about 45% of households.<ref name="Beeghley">Beeghley, L. (2004). ''The Structure of Social Stratification in the United States''. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon, Pearson.</ref>
=== Social class in the US at a glance === {{Main|Social class in the United States}} {{Social class in the US}}
== See also == *Middle class *Social class in the United Kingdom *Underclass *Upper class *Upper middle class *Working class *Petit bourgeoisie
== References == ===Notes=== {{reflist}}
===Bibliography=== {{Refbegin}} *{{Cite journal |last= Bailey |first= Peter |year= 1999 |title= White Collars, Gray Lives? The Lower Middle Class Revisited |journal= Journal of British Studies |volume= 38 |number= 3 |pages= 273–290 |jstor= 176057 |doi=10.1086/386195|pmid= 21987863 }} *{{Cite journal |last= Felski |first= Rita |author-link= Rita Felski |year= 2000 |title= Nothing to Declare: Identity, Shame, and the Lower Middle Class |journal= PMLA |volume= 115 |number= 1 |pages= 34–45 |jstor= 463229 }} *{{Cite book |last= Gilbert |first= Dennis L. |year= 2008 |title= The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality |edition= 7th |location= Thousand Oaks, CA |publisher= Pine Forge Press |isbn= 978-1-412-95414-3 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/americanclassstr0000gilb_d9o2 }} *{{Cite book |last1= Marx |first1=Karl |last2=Engels |first2=Friedrich |author1-link= Karl Marx |author2-link= Friedrich Engels |year= 1969 |orig-year= 1848 |chapter= Manifesto of the Communist Party |chapter-url= http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm |title= Marx/Engels Selected Works, Volume I ''(pp. 98–137)'' |location= Moscow |publisher= Progress Publishers }} *{{Cite journal |last= Mayer |first= Arno J. |author-link= Arno J. Mayer |year= 1975 |title= The Lower Middle Class as Historical Problem |journal= The Journal of Modern History |volume= 47 |number= 3 |pages= 409–436 |jstor= 1876000 |doi=10.1086/241338|s2cid= 145466695 }} *{{Cite book |last1= Thompson |first1= William E. |last2= Hickey |first2= Joseph V. |year= 2004 |title= Society in Focus |edition= 5th |location= London |publisher= Pearson |isbn= 978-0-205-41365-2 }} *{{Cite journal |last= Wiener |first= Jonathan M. |author-link= Jon Wiener |year= 1976 |title= Marxism and the Lower Middle Class: A Response to Arno Mayer |journal= The Journal of Modern History |volume= 48 |number= 4 |pages= 666–671 |jstor= 1880197 |doi=10.1086/241489|s2cid= 144119346 }} {{Refend}}
{{Social class}} Category:Middle class