Editing Social class (section)

====Middle class====
{{Main|Middle class|Upper middle class|Lower middle class|Bourgeoisie}} See also: [[Middle-class squeeze]]
The middle class is the group of people with jobs that pay significantly more than the [[poverty line]]. Examples of these types of jobs are factory workers, salespeople, teachers, cooks and nurses. There is a new trend by some scholars which assumes that the size of the middle class in every society is the same. For example, in paradox of interest theory, the middle class are those who are in 6th–9th decile groups, holding nearly 12% of the whole society's wealth.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Baizidi|first=Rahim|date=2019-07-17|title=Paradoxical class: paradox of interest and political conservatism in middle class|journal=Asian Journal of Political Science|volume=27|issue=3|pages=272–285|doi=10.1080/02185377.2019.1642772|s2cid=199308683|issn=0218-5377}}</ref>

The middle class is the most contested of the three categories, the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the lower and upper classes.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Middle class|editor=Stearns, Peter N.|title=Encyclopedia of social history|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1994|isbn=978-0-8153-0342-8|page=621|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kkIeyCEedrsC&pg=PA621}}</ref> One example of the contest of this term is that in the United States "middle class" is applied very broadly and includes people who would elsewhere be considered [[working class]]. Middle-class workers are sometimes called "[[white-collar worker]]s".

Theorists such as [[Ralf Dahrendorf]] have noted the tendency toward an enlarged middle class in modern Western societies, particularly in relation to the necessity of an educated work force in technological economies.<ref>Dahrendorf, Ralf. (1959) Class and Class Conflict in Industrial Society. Stanford: Stanford University Press.</ref> Perspectives concerning [[globalization]] and [[neocolonialism]], such as [[dependency theory]], suggest this is due to the shift of low-level labour to [[developing nation]]s and the [[Third World]].<ref>Bornschier V. (1996), 'Western society in transition' New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers.</ref>