From Madame Bovary to the Simpsons
One key distinction between middle-class and working-class values is the individualism of the former and the communitarianism of the latter. A middle-class upbringing emphasizes individual choice and independence, while the class ethos of the working class is all about solidarity and interdependence. It turns out that unethical behavior is more prevalent among members of the middle class, while prosocial and altruistic behavior is more common among the working class.
For now, the middle classes in the United States and Europe constitute a monumental enigma. While they’re characterized by propriety, honesty, and respectability, they’re also susceptible to unethical behavior because of the individualist ethos, pretentiousness, and pressure to conform. There’s also the added layer of frustration and anger from the status lost in the wake of global and domestic economic stagnation.
We’re are not alone in the universe
The key to grasping the essence of the new middle class in emerging markets like China or Nigeria is to recognize how it differs from the old middle class of the United States, Europe, or Japan. For starters, the “old” middle class has remained so for generations. But the emerging middle class is all “new money,” as the expression goes. While the average per capita income of middle-class people in the United States, Europe, and Japan is about three times higher than that of the middle class in China, India, or other emerging markets, it is stagnant. The generational and income differences between the old and new make middle-class consumers in emerging markets far more aspirational than middle-class consumers in developed ones.
2030 by Mauro.F.Guillen: 78–81
