I say schoolteacher. It's a profession that requires a college degree and is not manual labor. But there are too many (over 3 million in the USA) for it to be upper middle class. Plus they're in unions (elite liberals support unions in theory but unions are for the proles) and the degree is vocational. Pus there's more micromanagement of teachers then there is of academics, lawyers, scientists etc.

Ha! I'm a scientist married to an academic, and I think most of DCUM would squarely peg us as middle class.

Teacher was the first thing that came to mind for me.

Anonymous wrote:college professor (these days)

High status, high education, but middling income

Engineers

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher, and I don't disagree with most of what you wrote, OP. However, I have a BA and an MA in my subject area, and it is not an easy field. What on earth makes you think that my degrees are "vocational"? And since this is DCUM, I'd like to note that my BA is from an Ivy.

You're obviously atypical. Do you teach at Sidwell Friends or something? Elite private school teachers even if they make less or no more than public are of a higher class status (since class isn't simply determined by income).

What is class being determined by these day? I would like to know. In my country of birth, I believe it was based on where you were born, whether you ate meat, your family's occupation (farmers versus business people), and your skin color.

In the US, class is determined by your income, your household net worth, your education, and the status of your profession. Race plays into class in complicated ways.

What OP is asking is "What are the middle income/middle status professions?" OP is ignoring household wealth and education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My father was a machinist and later an electrician. My mother did medical insurance coding.

That's middle class.

What's your job?

economist

Anonymous wrote:My father was a machinist and later an electrician. My mother did medical insurance coding.

That's middle class.

What's your job?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher, and I don't disagree with most of what you wrote, OP. However, I have a BA and an MA in my subject area, and it is not an easy field. What on earth makes you think that my degrees are "vocational"? And since this is DCUM, I'd like to note that my BA is from an Ivy.

You're obviously atypical. Do you teach at Sidwell Friends or something? Elite private school teachers even if they make less or no more than public are of a higher class status (since class isn't simply determined by income).

What is class being determined by these day? I would like to know. In my country of birth, I believe it was based on where you were born, whether you ate meat, your family's occupation (farmers versus business people), and your skin color.

Anonymous wrote:Fed.

This

college professor (these days)

Government employee (including police)
Teacher
Small business owner (including service jobs like electrician)
Cubicle worker of a large corporation (across all fields)

My father was a machinist and later an electrician. My mother did medical insurance coding.

That's middle class.

You have to remember, it is DCUM, eveyone is middle class, unless they have a private jet and a yacht large enough to land the jet on, and even then only if they paid cash. Because admitting that they are more than middle class riddles them with guilt, but give them a teachers salary and they would probably jump off a roof.

Anonymous wrote:In this area, accountants, lawyers, doctors.

Yup, sales execs, software developers, directors

Fed.