ABSTRACT
The deterioration of the middle class has not affected only its own members; changes in the economic standing and plight of the middle class have had broad implications for the overall coarsening of American life. The middle class was the bedrock on which an advanced consumer economy was built. The rules of the middle class game defined not only how to economically get ahead, but in a broader sense, what many people defined as right and wrong. The middle class ethic was built on the concept of self-sufficiency: good, responsible people take care of themselves. The rules of middle class life have been eroded and in many cases violated, but the middle class has not yet found the political will to demand better. The alienation and anger resulting from the violations of the norms of middle class life are pervasive.
