Middle class - Middle class

The middle class is one of the various classes that make up the middle class, mainly consisting of the old middle class, but also including the upper part of the new middle class. Historically, it refers to the relatively stable part of the petty bourgeoisie or self-employed class that owns traditional means of production and makes a living from them, such as small business owners, small traders, and self-employed farmers, who were placed in an unstable state and stagnated in the process of polarization into the two major classes of capital and labor with the establishment and development of capitalism. In the UK, this class was dependent on and absorbed by the capitalist system, despite being exploited by it, and became established in society, but because their lives were based on assets, they were relatively stable and functioned as the backbone supporting the social structure and democratic politics (especially conservative politics) of the UK, and maintained a lifestyle and attitude appropriate to it. However, today they are in a difficult position due to pressure from capital and power from above, and from the labor movement from below, and it is said that they are losing the pride that was cultivated during their former stability and leisure.

Generally speaking, the middle class refers to the middle part of the class relationship between the two extremes (labor and capital, or upper and lower), which remains and stagnates without differentiating or decomposing into either the upper or lower extremes, and consists of landowners, rentiers, self-employed farmers, self-employed merchants and craftsmen, and self-employed professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.). These people own the means of production or business and other personal assets, and do not exploit the labor of others on a large scale like capitalists, nor are they employed by others and exploited like laborers, but earn a reasonable income by owning and managing their personal assets, and are neither extremely rich nor extremely poor, but have a stable life with savings for emergencies, a comfortable sense of life, and maintain a spirit of hard work and independence. Therefore, their mentality is individualistic and status quo-preserving, and while sandwiched between capital and labor, they act as a buffer between the two, and as a pool where the currents of decline from above and rise from below meet, they are useful for maintaining and stabilizing the system, but they cannot themselves be the driving force to change the system and move history, and they have a strong tendency to adapt to the system.In addition, in recent years, with the expansion of industry and the bureaucratization of organizations, managers and executives have appeared in charge of managing it, but these middle-level people are distinguished from the rest of the new middle class and are included in the middle class because of the high income and stability of life that come with their high employment status, and they have come to consider themselves as such.

[Akira Hamashima]

"White Collar" by Mills, translated by Masataka Sugi (1957, Sogensha) " ▽ "The Japanese Middle Class" by Kazuo Okochi (1960, Bungeishunju Shinsha) ▽ "The Class Structure of Japan" edited by Kenichi Tominaga (1979, University of Tokyo Press)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中間層middle classを構成する雑多な階層の一つで、おもに旧中間層からなり、部分的には新中間層の上層部分をも含む。歴史的には、中世の支配階級（貴族、僧侶(そうりょ)）に対する第三身分として台頭した新興の都市商工業者および自営業者をさすが、資本主義の成立・発展に伴い資本と労働という二大階級への両極分解の過程で不安定な状態に置かれ、分解しきれずに停滞する中小企業主、小商人、自営農民などの、伝統的生産手段を所有し、それによって生計をたてる小市民層または自営業者層のうちの比較的に安定した部分をいう。イギリスではこの層は、資本主義体制下でこれに収奪されながらも依存・吸着し、社会的に定着してきたが、その生活が資産を基盤にしていたため相対的に安定し、イギリスの社会構造や民主政治（それも保守政治）を支えるバックボーンとして機能し、それにふさわしい生活様式や生活態度を保持してきた。しかし今日では、上からの資本や権力による圧力、下からの労働運動による圧力を受けて窮地にたたされ、かつての安定とゆとりに培われたプライドを喪失しつつあるといわれる。

　一般に中産階級という場合には、（労資または上下）両極に対立し対抗する階級関係にあって、上下いずれの両極にも分化・分解を遂げずに残存し停滞する中間部分をいい、土地所有者、金利生活者、自営農民、商工業自営業者または手工業者および自営の専門職従事者（医師、弁護士など）からなる。これらの人々は生産手段または営業手段その他の個人資産をもち、資本家のように他人の労働を大々的に搾取するのでも、労働者のように他人に雇われて搾取を受けるのでもなく、また個人資産の保有と運用によってそれ相応の収入を獲得し、極端に豊かでも極端に貧乏でもなく、いざという場合の蓄えをもった安定した生活とゆとりある生活感覚をもち、勤労と自立の気風を保持する。したがって、その精神構造は個人主義的で現状維持的であり、資本と労働に挟まれながら両者の緩衝器として作用し、上からの没落と下からの上昇の流れが合流するプールとして、体制の維持・安定に役だつが、それ自身体制を変革し歴史を動かす主体的推進力たりえず、体制に順応していく傾向が強い。なお、近時、産業の巨大化、組織の官僚制化に伴い、その管理の任にあたる経営者・管理者が登場したが、その中間レベルの人々は、高い従業上の地位に見合う高収入と生活安定のゆえに、他の新中間層から区別されて中産階級に含められ、自らもそのような意識をもつようになっている。

［濱嶋　朗］

『ミルズ著、杉政孝訳『ホワイト・カラー』（1957・創元社）』▽『大河内一男著『日本的中産階級』（1960・文芸春秋新社）』▽『富永健一編『日本の階層構造』（1979・東京大学出版会）』

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