Typical Occupations
Note that according to the many different ways of sub-dividing the middle class, some of the occupations indicative of the professional middle class might be categorized as upper-middle or lower-middle.
As mentioned above, typical occupations for members of the middle class are those identified as being part of "the professions" and often include managerial duties as well, with all being white collar. There is great diversity among the occupations found among those living the middle-class lifestyle, and the appropriateness of some occupations being placed here will depend on each individual’s personal outlook. The following is a list of occupations one might expect to find among this class: Accountants, Professors (Post-secondary educators), Physicians, Engineers, Lawyers, Architects, Journalists, Mid-level corporate managers, Writers, Economists, Political Scientists, Urban planners, Financial managers, High school teachers, Registered Nurses (RNs), Pharmacists and analysts, etc...
Autonomy is often seen as one of the greatest measurement of a person's class status. Even though some working class employees might also enjoy largely self-directed work, large degrees of autonomy in the work place, as well as influence over the organizational process, which are commonly the results of obtained expertise, these can still be seen as hallmarks of upper-middle-class or professional-middle-class professions.
As for the lower middle class, other less prestigious occupations, many sales positions, entry-level management, secretaries, etc., would be included. In addition to professionals whose work is largely self-directed and includes managerial duties, many other less privileged members of the statistical middle class would find themselves in semi-independent to independent white collar positions. Many of those in the statistical middle class might work in what are called the professional support fields. These fields include occupations such as dental hygienists, and other professional and sales support.
Read more about this topic: American Middle Class
Famous quotes containing the words typical and/or occupations:
“A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People ask why we have no typical architecture of the modern world, like impressionism in painting. Surely it is obviously because we have not enough dogmas; we cannot bear to see anything in the sky that is solid and enduring, anything in the sky that does not change like the clouds of the sky.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“Whatever events in progress shall disgust men with cities, and infuse into them the passion for country life, and country pleasures, will render a service to the whole face of this continent, and will further the most poetic of all the occupations of real life, the bringing out by art the native but hidden graces of the landscape.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)