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The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and working class folk. Since the working classes constituted the vast majority of the population, the middle classes actually lay near the top of the social pyramid.

In Europe and the United States, industrialization eventually caused the middle class to swell at the expense of the lower, so that by the middle of the 20th century it constituted a majority. Now, the label is often swollen to cover the bulk of society and its norms.

As the swollen middle class lost its distinctive usefulness as a label, observers invented sub-labels: we often detect in contemporary societies an "upper middle class" and a "lower middle class". However, some have argued that the "lower-middle" class merely represents a materially privileged (by world standards) but positionally disadvantaged working class, sociologically not a part of the middle class at all. While 95 percent of Americans identify themselves as middle-class, the sociological reality is different: Some of these individuals are actually lower or upper class in strict sociological terms.

Modern political economy considers a large middle class to be a beneficial, stabilizing influence on society, because it has neither the explosive revolutionary tendencies of the lower class, nor the stultifying greedy tendencies of the upper class. In American society, politicans target the tastes of the middle classes, where often lie the critical demographic of swing voters.

In the 1990s and 2000s, many feared that the spreading wealth gap would lead to a "collapse of the middle" in American society. Political theory predicts that such a happening would be disasterous. A modern threat to the middle class is downsizing in many sectors of the American economy, and the systematic elimination of unionized labor.

Around 1980, when asked what level of personal income would qualify as middle-class, George H. W. Bush replied: $50,000. In fact, only 5 percent of the U.S. population was making that level of income at the time.

For Marxist views on this class, compare bourgeoisie.

Also see classlessness.

It is also important to note that class is relative and cannot fit neatly into categories.