In my book there are three major classes in modern, industrialised societies of the world:
A. the working class, the people who must sell their skills and time on the labour market to an employer for wages (aka salary) in order to make a living. Ninety percent of the people in industrialised societies are in the working class, no matter how they identify as individauls e.g. blacks, whites, gays, women, men and so on. The I.W.W. wants this class to organize One Big Union so that it can have the power to make life richer and freer while living in harmony with the Earth.
B. the capitalist class (aka the employing class), the people who must hire/purchase wage labourers' time. Capitalists make a living by appropriating the product of their labourers and selling it on the market. Wages are a fraction of the the value of the total product of any combination of workers hired by an employer. The capitalist class is already organised in corporations, the chamber of commerce and the political State.
C. the landlord class, the people who make their living by buying land and other 'real' property and either selling or renting it out to others for their use. Landlords are also organized and buy their share of bourgeois politicians to represent their interests in the State apparatus.
To be sure, there are divisions within the working class between those who can fetch more money from their employers for their skills than others. Because skill is a commodity in the marketplace, it sells for differing prices depend on how dear it is and how much time has been spend producing/educating/training it.
There are also individuals who sell their skills directly to consumers e.g. some lawyers and some doctors who aren't hired by group employers. These people are not part of the three major classes outlined above. One might designate these people as the modern "middle class".
Most of the people living in the U.S.A. think of themselves as 'Middle Class". A lot of 'radicals' call people who are working class, 'middle class", thus fostering the illusion that the working class is smaller than it actually is AND very importantly, that the working class and this "middle class" have no interests in common.
Your rulers love these kinds points of view. Divide and rule. Divide and be ruled. The workers divided will always be defeated. Yes, your rulers rub their hands together, smile and think, "Let us prey."
Mike B)
http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/706/middle-class-poll
http://pewsocialtrends.org/assets/pdf/MC-Middle-class-report.pdf
Inside the Middle Class: Bad Times Hit the Good Life
Executive Summary
This report on the attitudes and lives of the American middle class
combines results of a new Pew Research Center national public opinion
survey with the center's analysis of relevant economic and demographic
trend data from the Census Bureau. Among its key findings:
Fewer Americans now than at any time in the past half century believe
they're moving forward in life.
Americans feel stuck in their tracks. A majority of survey respondents say
that in the past five years, they either haven't moved forward in life
(25%) or have fallen backward (31%). This is the most downbeat short-term
assessment of personal progress in nearly half a century of polling by the
Pew Research Center and the Gallup organization.
When asked to measure their progress over a longer time frame, Americans
are more upbeat. Nearly two-thirds say they have a higher standard of
living than their parents had when their parents were their age.
For decades, middle income Americans had been making absolute progress
while enduring relative decline. But since 1999, they have not made
economic progress.
As of 2006 (the last year for which trend data are available), real median
annual household income had not yet returned to its 1999 peak, making this
decade one of the longest downturns ever for this widely-accepted measure
of the middle-class standard of living. Over a longer time period, the
picture is much brighter; since 1970, median household income has risen by
41%.
However, this long-term prosperity has not spread evenly. The upper income
tier (households with annual incomes above 150% of the median) has
outperformed the middle tier (households with annual incomes between 75%
and 150% of the median) -- not just in income gains, but also in wealth
accumulation. From 1983 to 2004, the median net worth of upper income
families grew by 123%, while the median net worth of middle income families
grew by just 29%. In effect, those in the middle have been making progress
in absolute terms while falling behind in relative terms.
About half of all Americans think of themselves as middle class. They are a
varied lot.
Some 53% of adults in America say they are middle class. On key measures of
well-being -- income, wealth, health, optimism about the future -- they
tend to fall between those who identify with classes above and below them.
But within this self-defined middle class, there are notable economic and
demographic differences. For example, four-in-ten Americans with incomes
below $20,000 say they are middle class, as do a third of those with
incomes above $150,000. And about the same percentages of blacks (50%),
Hispanics (54%) and whites (53%) self-identify as middle class, even though
members of minority groups who say they are middle class have far less
income and wealth than do whites who say they are middle class.
For the past two decades middle income Americans have been spending more
and borrowing more. Housing has been the key driver of both trends.
A new single family house is about 50% larger and existing houses are
nearly 60% more expensive (in inflation adjusted dollars) now than in the
mid 1980s. Goods and services that didn't exist a few decades ago -- such
as high definition television, high speed internet, and cable or satellite
subscriptions -- have become commonplace consumer items. And the costs of
many of the anchors of a middle class lifestyle -- not just housing, but
medical care and college education -- have risen more sharply than inflation.
As expenses have risen, middle income Americans have taken on more debt,
often borrowing against homes that, at least until recently, had been
rising rapidly in value. The median debt-to-income ratio for middle income
adults increased from 0.45 in 1983 to 1.19 in 2004. Ratios have also
increased for upper and lower income adults, but not by as much.
At a time when these borrow-and-spend habits have spread, Americans say it
has become harder to sustain a middle class lifestyle.
Nearly eight-in-ten (79%) respondents in the Pew Research Center survey say
it is more difficult now than five years ago for people in the middle class
to maintain their standard of living. Back in 1986, just 65% of the public
felt this way.
The current economic slowdown and uptick in prices are taking a bite out of
the family budget. Slightly more than half of middle class respondents say
they've had to tighten their belts in the past year. Roughly the same
proportion expect to make more cutbacks in the year ahead, and a quarter
say they expect to have trouble paying their bills. About a quarter of
those who are employed worry they could lose their job.
Nonetheless, the American middle class is optimistic about the future. Most
are confident that their quality of life in five years will be better than
it is now. And, gazing farther ahead, most expect their children to do
better in life than they themselves have done.
Economic, demographic, technological and sociological changes since 1970
have moved some groups up the income ladder and pushed others down.
Winners include seniors (ages 65 and older), blacks, native-born Hispanics
and married adults. The income status of all of these groups improved from
1970 to 2006. Losers include young adults (ages 18 to 29), the
never-married, foreign-born Hispanics and people with a high school diploma
or less. All of these groups have seen their relative income positions
decline.
Most middle class adults agree with the old saw that the Republican Party
favors the rich while the Democratic Party favors the middle class and the
poor.
Nearly six-in-ten (58%) middle class survey respondents say the Republican
Party favors the rich, while nearly two-thirds say the Democratic Party
favors the middle class (39%) or the poor (26%).
...
More at URL above.
Cool, wouldn't argue fundamentally with that comrade 
