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Show 43 college of humanities For decades, politicians, scholars, and journalists have argued that the American middle-class is in decline - the message being so prevalent that it is now accepted as common knowledge. What is not as widely understood, however, is who exactly constitute America's middle-class. What is no understood is exactly who are middle-class? In surveys, Americans with annual incomes between $8,000 and $800,000 identify themselves as belonging to the group; moreover, economists and sociologists seem to offer no less insight into the question, insisting only the middle-class must lay somewhere between "rich" and "poor." Rising to the Middle offers four varied conceptualizations of "middle-classness" as they have existed dur-ing the last 400 years. Economic data, news reports and demographic information are used to track the socio-economic progress of the people of the United States from colonization to present day and presents a possible narrative for American economic identity and explains why the term "middle-class" has come to represent "us" in the modern American zeitgeist. RISING TO THE MIDDLE: THE RISE, AND POSSIBLE FALL, OF THE AMERICAN "US." Kip Joseph Kay (John S. Reed) Department of History University of Utah UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH ABSTRACTS John S. Reed Kip Joseph Kay UROP Scholar in Honor of John G. Francis 2011-2012 |