Globalization and the Shrinking Middle Class

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America has always relied on the definition of class ' to denote who belongs where and what their status was . There was the lower class , the lower middle class , the middle class , the upper middle class , etc Moreover in an age of globalization , the definition of class , on a wealth earned basis , is disappearing . The gap between the wealthy and the middle class is widening . According to many , the middle class

is disappearing altogether

Class in America : Myths and Realities by Gregory Mantsios refers to the muted class differences in America . Mantsios introduced four popular myths about class in America . Those myths include the notion that we are a classless society , that we are a middle class society , that we are all getting richer and that everyone has the chance to succeed Statistically , Mantsios states

The wealthiest 15 percent of the American population holds nearly 75 percent of the three quarters of all the consumer durables (such as houses , cars , and stereos ) and financial assets (such as stocks , bonds , property , and savings accounts (p

These statistics suggest that the rich are getting richer . He states that America has long been perceived as a middle class country , and that the middle class is shrinking . So what is causing the middle class to shrink ? Garrett , in Globalization 's Missing Middle , addresses this debate by discussing the effects of free trade and the potential reasons that globalization squeezes the middle class (Garrett , 2004 ) This explains how middle class shrinkage is no accident , by first providing a brief history of the post World War II middle class boom discussing neo-liberalization and the rise of the dominant Transnational Capitalist class

There are a variety of factors are causing a decline in the proportion of our work force in the middle income levels . These factors can be categorized as affecting either the occupational structure of employment or relative wages among occupations . The more significant of these concern the occupational structure of employment (1 ) the decline of employment in the factory or industries that have a large number of production workers who exemplify workers in the middle of the earnings spectrum (2 ) the rapid growth of high tech industries that have a bipolar occupational structure (3 ) the large number of job openings and growth in low paying occupations (4 ) the shifting industrial structure of the United States from goods-producing industries that have a large proportion of middle income workers to service-producing industries that are considered to have many high and low income earners with relatively few in the middle (Rosenthal , 1985

Changing employment patterns are attracting a great deal of attention the employment decline in large heavy manufacturing industries and in blue-collar occupations , and the employment increase in high technology manufacturing and service-producing industries and in white-collar and service occupations . For example , 43 percent of the full-time wage and salary workers were employed in blue-collar and farm occupations in...