This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Lower middle class article.
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Ok, this page is a joke. The lower middle class is *not* the same as the working class (think medical records technicians vs nurse's aides, dental hygienists vs dental receptionists), that graph is idiotic and seems misleading (I strongly doubt that at any point in their working lives the national average income for college graduates is 100k, but if you can support it, go ahead), and the emphasis on how much the upper castes value education seems more remniscent of a a lot of 1980s high school sociology textbooks whose purposes were more to justify an existing order and achieve a certain behavior than explore society. I think it is obvious these articles need revised. Let the editing begin!

Actually I am planning on completely rewriting this article. Also, according to some the lower middle class is the same as the working class (I actually think it isn't). The national median household income of those with a Bachelor's degree or higher was $76k in 2005 (over $100k for those with two incomes), the national median household income was $43k/year-the cut-off for the top third was $68k, placing the vast majority of households headed by college grads in the top third of the income strata. The upper middle class does value education as most of them are professionals. I would like to leave you with one thought: If you go to the Departement of Labor web-site [1] and look at the income of "Professionals" or "Management," can you imagine any married couple of professional equals making less than $100k? (I know there are some, but few)
" Let the editing begin!"- yes, but I just got back from my vacation so give me some time, or do it youself ;-) One thing that is so extremely important to rember in terms of social class is that there many different vantage and intelctual concepts which may or may not contradict each other. Here on WP we need to cover all authortive source. So, by all means, get an accpunt (Just takes a minute-no personal info needed) and help improve this article! Signature^brendel 18:11, 27 August 2006 (UTC)PS: Concerning the chart- Please you're reading the chart wrong-you can't read across. Here is how that graph ought to be read: IF you have a BA you are among the top 27% in regards to educational attainment, if you make more than $100k you are among the top 15% of households, etc...

[edit] Ambiguous Chart

A few points. CEO's are not upper class, neither are most politicans. The upper class are landed gentry. People who have owned large family estates for hundreds of years. Class articles should be specified as American class articles, as class clearly has a very different meaning in the USA to what it has in Europe, where at the upper levels it is to do with breeding/station rather than income. From a European point of view, Bill Gates would be called middle class, Im assuming from the chart that he would be upper class in the USA. Cheers

The class chart is a bit ambiguous. The first column is an attempt to quantify prestige. The second column appears to be education. The third column, I assume, represents income, but is that individual or household? The far right column represents....net worth?? What levels of "class" do the colors represent?

I must say that this chart is misleading. A BA degree does not equate to upper class. A school Teacher must have a BA/BS degree, but this does not make him/her upper class. In some states, school-teacher salaries start around $25,000 and may not exceed $55,000 (after 30 years experience). I'm sure there any many other examples.

I think this chart should be removed. Any Discussion? 68.187.192.107 17:10, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Since this graph provides an illustration of a particular definition or view of class, based on the US census and published by the NY Times, I think it should stay until something better comes along. The methodology and reference should of course be elaborated. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 17:46, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Okay, the chart represents prestige of occupation, Household income (according to the 2000 Census), Net Worth (according to the 2003 Economic Survey, and the color represent the quintiles. The New York Times uses a similar graph (actually its the exact same to define class. According to the NY Times each quintile is a class (i.e. 5th = Upper Class, 4th = Upper Middle Class, etc...). No a BA does not make on upper class, class is a combination of all five columns. Scoring high on one does not mean you autmotically in that class. Also a person with a BA who is making $55k a year is higher up in the social hirachy than a person making the same with no BA. The bottom line is that class is made up of all four, occupational prestige, education, income, and net worth. Thank you. Regards, Signature^brendel 01:17, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Um no my friend, that chart is definetly wrong. It says "some college" for upper middle class? Check the wikipedia article for upper middle class, it says graduate degree, not college. Even a BA, which is shown as the highest class, is undergraduate, not graduate, and hence should be affiliated with lower middle class. That chart is absolutely terrible and should be remeoved ASAP 20 March 2007

Well actually you are reading the chart incorrectly, but never mind... I'll remove it as to many people seem to misread it (which probably means that I did a bad job composing it). Anyways, I know what is says in the Upper middle class article-I wrote it and you're right- UMC is graduate degree. Signature^brendel 21:31, 20 March 2007 (UTC)