Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/02/03
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Precisely my point. "Middle class" in its American application generally falls between the group who derives its principal wealth from the ownership of the means of production (capital that reproduces itself) or land (income derived from rents or the outright production of goods) and those who work for wages and do not possess significant property (working class). Traditionally the "middle class" consists of the professions: the law, medicine, the ministry (who derive their income from 'service', broadly conceived--so it might extend to include, say, college professors), shop owners (whom we might view as "middle" men between producers and consumers, though this group also includes, depending on when and where, owners of shops dedicated to the skilled trades--the Newport cabinet makers of the 18th century are a case in point--we might think of general contractors in the present day, that is, those who employ wage earners). The problem, of course, is that none of these categories is mutually exclusive. One might practice as a lawyer *and* possess vast capital. One might practice as a minister and live among one's congregation in abject poverty. One might own a thousand acres of land and subsist on federal subsidies. Class identity in America is a slippery thing, but when Jefferson professed his love of the "yeoman" farmer and his desire that they should remain the bedrock of the republic, he manifestly did *not* mean shopkeepers (whom he largely despised) or bankers, or anything of that sort. He meant "freeholders" of property. One could, in the interest of pedantry, speak to property restrictions on the voting franchise, to eligibility for militia service, and other "class" markers; these are of course evoked by the second of the dictionary definitions. Veblen had a far simpler notion: the "leisure" class possessed the means to squander time and the inclination to do so. The "industrial" order possessed the capacity to transform the world through the efficient disposition of time and the judicious employment of technology--we are, I suppose, its heirs. For my part, I have no class at all. Chandos >Main Entry: yeoˇmanˇry >Pronunciation: 'yO-m&n-rE >Function: noun >Date: 14th century >1 : the body of yeomen; specifically : the body of small landed proprietors of >the middle class >2 : a British volunteer cavalry force created from yeomen in 1761 as a home >defense force and reorganized in 1907 as part of the territorial force >Mark Rabiner Chandos Michael Brown Assoc. Prof., History and American Studies College of William and Mary http://www.wm.edu/CAS/ASP/faculty/brown