A third example is public education. Integration of school districts puts kids from wealthier backgrounds in the same classes and the same social settings as kids of lower socioeconomic status. They eat at the same tables, do the same homework and (mostly) join the same clubs.
In addition to compressing the income and wealth distributions, therefore, society can foster a middle-class esprit by providing public goods and services -- spaces and institutions that reduce or eliminate invidious status differences. This is a way to justify people’s perceptions of being middle class, and cement the idea that we live in a middle-class society. It’s a way to encourage people to connect with their common humanity, and with the broader communities of their cities and their nations. Ultimately, that connection and feeling of commonality might really be what defines the middle class.
Story by Bloomberg News.