CLASS FORMATION IN 19TH-CENTURY AMERICA - THE CASE OF THE MIDDLE-CLASS

This review assesses sociological and historical research relevant to the emergence and consolidation of the American middle class in the ni neteenth century. On the one hand, macrosociological theories have rel ied on a two-class model which renders the middle class a residual soc ial category. Yet, on the other hand, community studies of the ''new'' social history-while they have opened up new avenues of inquiry into the complex social processes underlying middle class formation-have te nded to focus on particular decades of the nineteenth century, leading to a fragmented view of the occupational composition of the middle cl ass. Distinct literatures have developed around the study of particula r occupational strata: artisans, small capitalists, white-collar wage earners, and the petite bourgeoisie. We argue here that different occu pational groups overlap in time and represent a heterogeneous and hist orically shifting middle class rather than distinct entities. The argu ment for the integrity of a distinct middle class also rests on an und erstanding of the development of urban institutions and the cultural e xpressions of middle-class lifestyles and behavior. The expansion of t his middle class, however, was closely linked to a growing economy and increasing equality of opportunity. We speculate that the reversal of these conditions, evident from the 1970s, may undermine the well-bein g of the middle class and its correlative social values, notably toler ance and civility.