The Concept of Social
Class Structures and the
Importance of the Middle
Class
There has been a lot of debate about the
concept of social class as a measure of
the economic wellbeing of a nation, with
sociologists generally agreeing on the
existence of three primary socio-economic
categories: upper, middle, and lower class.
The focus of this article is on the middle
class - the most dynamic of the three
The Shrinking Nigerian Middle Class
socio-economic groups.
William Easterly, former World Bank
research economist defines the middle
class as the three quintiles between the
poorest and the richest social divisions.
A major limitation of this definition
however is that middle class income and
consumption data differ per country,
indicating a very broad scope of what
might be termed middle class. Some
experts have also defined the middle-
class as individuals with annual income
exceeding $3,900 in purchasing Power
Parity (PPP) terms or with daily per capita
expenditure between $2 and $20.
Most definitions of the middle class almost
exclusively focus on the financial metrics
often ignoring cultural norms and lifestyle-
related attributes as well as political
orientation and the disparity that exist
within a broad band of income groupings.
A typical middle-class household would
average two cars, shop in supermarkets
and malls, send their kids to private
schools, and in some cases, can afford one
vacation abroad in a year. Other variables
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