Why You Should Care About the Threatened Middle Class

Authors

Jill Littrell, Georgia State University
Fred Brooks, Georgia State University
Jan Ivery, Georgia State University
Mary L. Ohmer, Georgia State University

Keywords

Middle class, depression, economy, social justice, New Deal

Abstract

In the last two decades, the income and security of the individual middle class worker has declined and the gap between the middle class and the wealthy has widened. We explain how this is bad for democracy, the economy, and the aggregate health of the nation. We examine the governmental policies and interventions that increased the middle class following the depression and maintained its vigor through the post-World War II period. The impetus for these changes in governmental policies in the 1930s was to end the Great Depression. We pose the question of whether a nation can recover from a depression without invigorating the middle class. We conclude that in order to recover from the current economic and financial crisis, the middle class must be strengthened.

Recommended Citation

Littrell, Jill; Brooks, Fred; Ivery, Jan; and Ohmer, Mary L. (2010) "Why You Should Care About the Threatened Middle Class," The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare: Vol. 37: Iss. 2, Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.3515
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/jssw/vol37/iss2/5