Middle Class Identity in the Modern World: How Politics and Economics Matter

It is widely accepted that people tend to identify with the middle classes regardless of their social class position. Nevertheless, this “middle class identity bias” is not equally prominent in all western democracies. The goal of this article is to assess the role of political and economic conditions in shaping this phenomenon. By exploring the relationship between class identity and national context in 15 modern societies, I address two main questions: (1) how individual‐level income affects where people place themselves in the class system, and (2) how national political and economic context affects this relationship. In doing so, I offer several important findings. First, although there is a positive relationship between income and class identification in all 15 societies, middle class identification is weakest when income inequality is high. Consistent with previous findings, the results suggest that economic development has a positive impact on class identity. The results also uncover a role for political ideology by suggesting a lingering affect of Communist rule. Even after controlling for economic development and income inequality, respondents in former Communist countries are more likely than others to identify as belonging to a low social class.     

The Sociology of Unequal Exchange in Ecological Context: A Panel Study of Lower‐Income Countries, 1975–20001

The structural theory of ecologically unequal exchange posits that through the vertical flow of exports from lower‐income countries, the stratified world economy enables higher‐income countries to misappropriate global environmental space. Tied to their unsustainable consumption levels, this misappropriation by higher‐income countries leads to the suppression of resource consumption in lower‐income countries, well below globally sustainable thresholds, which negatively impacts the well‐being of domestic populations. To evaluate key aspects of the theory, I test the hypothesis that lower‐income countries with elevated levels of exports sent to higher‐income countries exhibit lower consumption‐based environmental demand, measured as per‐capita ecological footprints. Findings for generalized least squares panel regression analyses of 66 lower‐income countries from 1975 to 2000 confirm the hypothesis, providing support for the theory. Additional results indicate that the strength of the hypothesized relationship increased in magnitude during the 25‐year period. These findings hold, net of the effects of economic development, ecological conditions, and other structural factors.     

World Income Distribution and Tax Reform: What Tax Systems Do Low‐Income Countries Need?

This article develops a new method for assessing relative direct tax burdens across all countries, treating the world as a single economic entity and assuming identical preferences across countries. Empirical results show that the new direct tax burden indices are significantly high in low‐income countries in comparison with middle‐ and high‐income countries. This article argues in favour of narrowing the base of income and capital gains tax in low‐income countries and a long‐term convergence of the tax burden levels across countries. Future research into tax reforms in low‐income countries should focus simultaneously on economic growth, quality of life and the natural environment.     

The Rapid Rise of Supermarkets?

A series of articles, many of them published in this journal, have charted the rapid spread of supermarkets in developing and middle‐income countries and forecast its continuation. In this article, the level of supermarket penetration (share of the retail food market) is modelled quantitatively on a cross‐section of 42 countries for which data could be obtained, representing all stages of development. GDP per capita, income distribution, urbanisation, female labour force participation and openness to inward foreign investment are all significant explanators. Projections to 2015 suggest significant but not explosive further penetration; increased openness and GDP growth are the most significant factors.     

HOW THE LEGACY OF FRENCH COLONIZATION HAS SHAPED DIVERGENT LEVELS OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN EAST ASIA: A Time‐Series Cross‐National Analysis

Although many countries in East Asia have achieved high growth rates since the middle of the 20th century, former French colonies in the region have struggled to attain comparable levels of economic development. This article is an attempt to explain this variation in development through a cross‐national analysis of economic growth in East Asia for the period from 1970 to 2007. Results suggest that the underperformance of former French colonies is attributable to their inheritance of colonial institutions that have been unfavorable for domestic investment, international trade, and educational attainment. Overall, conclusions lend support for the idea that long‐term economic development should be understood in terms of path dependence, and that sustained economic growth requires a concerted effort to restructure growth‐adverse institutional arrangements.     

Foreclosure,Inequality, and the Difference That Place Makes

While the Great Recession and the associated rise in foreclosures significantly impacted households across the United States, default rates in rural areas and rural‐urban foreclosure differences have failed to attract substantial research attention. To expand the scale and scope of the foreclosure literature, this article examines place‐based differences in estimated foreclosure rates across U.S. counties, which are classified as urban, suburban, micropolitan, or rural. Defaults are considered both overall and for each county classification, and are related to income distribution and inequality, homeownership, adjudication of default, place‐based factors including amenity scores and proximity to urban areas, and geographic region. The article finds a complex relationship among these variables, with inequality itself negatively associated with default rates and lower‐middle?income households positively related to foreclosure. Further, while proximity to urban areas is positively related to foreclosure rates among nonurban counties, natural amenities are related to lower default rates in these areas. The article concludes by considering policy implications, and recommends expanding foreclosure mitigation and prevention strategies to nonurban places.     

Occupational closure and immigrant entrepreneurship: Russian Jews in Israel

The recent wave of Jews emigrating from countries of the former Soviet Union to Israel has created structural conditions for immigrant entrepreneurship. The large size of the migrant population and its spatial concentration create a demand for services and products that can be provided by immigrants. This paper investigates the factors associated with intentions to open a small business in a sample of Jewish immigrants from the countries of the former Soviet Union. It was found that intentions to open a small business are related to previous business experience, education, income, and length of residence in the country. Immigrants become interested in entrepreneurship after learning that their prospects of finding a job in their profession are meager and explain their motivation to open a small business as being to increase their income. The findings seem to support the disadvantage theory that conceptualizes entrepreneurship as an adaptive mechanism to structural barriers in the primary labor market that create an occupational closure for immigrants possessing low and middle levels of education and income.     

From Poverty Reduction to Mutual Interests? The Debate on Differentiation in EU Development Policy

Aid to middle‐income countries has become one of the most discussed issues among development researchers and in the current modernisation of the development policy of the European Union. This article argues that the question needs to be dealt with in the context of two interlinked challenges: (i) the need to reconceptualise dominant approaches to global poverty reduction beyond national income, and (ii) the growing range of global challenges and the strategically important role of middle‐income countries. For EU development policy, the implications are twofold: (i) a better‐co‐ordinated cross‐country division of labour, and (ii) a diversification of objectives towards a global rationale of development policy involving closer co‐ordination with other EU external policies.     

Information and Communication Technologies for Direct Poverty Alleviation: Costs and Benefits

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are powerful tools for empowerment and income generation in developing countries. The cost‐effectiveness of different ICTs does vary between developed and less developed countries, however. This article reviews the potential efficacy of radio, telephony and the Internet as tools of direct poverty alleviation in the latter. While the requirements for their successful utilisation make radio and telephone far more suitable technologies for the poor, traditional ICTs can act as a sustainable intermediary for them to gain indirect access to the power of the Internet. Governments should concentrate on opening up private and community provision of broadcasting and widening access to telephone services, so that they can effectively play this intermediary role.     

The Conundrum of Low Saving Rates in Latin America

Despite extensive economic reforms during the late 1980s/early 1990s, Latin America's saving rates remain low. This article examines the saving behaviour of 18 Latin American countries in the 1976‐2000 period and compares it with that of 25 other developing countries. It finds that lower inflation, income growth and increased real interest rates on deposits have not had the expected effects on saving rates in Latin America. Instead, the determinants of saving behaviour appear to differ between the two groups of countries, and saving rates are affected by a degree of inertia. Although more research is needed, this indicates that the focus of the neoliberal economic reforms of the 1980s was misplaced.     

Early-life origins of the race gap in men's mortality

Using a life course framework, we examine the early life origins of the race gap in men's all-cause mortality. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men (1966-1990), we evaluate major social pathways by which early life conditions differentiate the mortality experiences of blacks and whites. Our findings indicate that early life socioeconomic conditions, particularly parental occupation and family structure, explain part of the race gap in mortality. Black men's higher rates of death are associated with lower socioeconomic standing in early life and living in homes lacking both biological parents. However these effects operate indirectly through adult socioeconomic achievement processes, as education, family income, wealth, and occupational complexity statistically account for the race gap in men's mortality. Our findings suggest that policy interventions to eliminate race disparities in mortality and health should address both childhood and adult socioeconomic conditions.     

Exploring Perceptions of the Food Environment Amongst Congolese,Somalis and Zimbabweans Living in Cape Town

In low and middle‐income countries, the nutrition transition to highly processed, high‐sugar diets has been extraordinarily rapid. Yet in these same settings, obesity and hunger are often experienced within a single household. As part of a broader study of cross‐border migrants’ experiences of maternal and infant nutrition in Cape Town, in this article I explore the individual and collective meanings associated with foods in a specific migrant context, as well as their connections to changing food environments in Cape Town, South Africa. While there was relative silence over food scarcity, the food environment seemed to present constraints to dietary diversity. The migrants’ views and experiences suggest the relevance of improving the accessibility and affordability of already desirable, nutrient dense foods.     

Not by Rent Alone: Analysing the Pro‐Poor Functions of Small‐Scale Fisheries in Developing Countries

The dominant view in academic and policy arenas is increasingly one in which the major contribution of capture fisheries to development should be derived from the capacity of society to maximise the economic rent of fishery resources. Drawing upon empirical experience from the South, this article highlights the potentially disastrous consequences that a universal implementation of the rent‐maximisation model would have in developing countries, and argues that a more gradual approach would be preferable. The welfare function of small‐scale fisheries, namely, their capacities to provide labour and cash income to resource‐poor households, should be preserved until the appropriate macroeconomic conditions for rent‐maximisation and redistribution are fulfilled.     

Socioeconomic and Gender Health Disparities in Diabetes: The Lower Middle Income Case of Ghana

While literature theorizing the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), gender, and health outcomes is robust in high‐income countries, there is less scholarship examining how SES affects men and women in lower middle income countries (LMICs). Focusing on the LMIC case of Ghana, I use Wave 1 of the World Health Organization Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (SAGE) to examine the relationship between SES and diabetes among Ghanaian women and men. Specifically, I examine how key SES measures such as educational attainment, employment status, and income singly and collectively predict the odds of diabetes for Ghanaian men and women. I also examine the explanatory value of the reversal hypothesis, which posits that those of high SES experience higher rates of non‐communicable diseases. Overall, I find that while Ghanaian men experience increased odds of diabetes with increased education, Ghanaian women have higher odds of diabetes compared to men regardless of educational attainment. Understanding health patterns in LMICs like Ghana is important for sociological inquiry on health disparities seeking to incorporate more global perspectives.     

Resource or Obstacle?: Classed Reports of Student–Faculty Relations

This article explores the relationship between undergraduate students’ class‐based cultural capital and their facility in developing relationships with faculty. Based on in‐depth interviews with 44 students at an elite university, this study reveals that lower‐ and middle‐class students tended to inadvertently opt out of this key relational opportunity. Compared with upper‐class students, who predominantly reported an “appreciative ease” orientation toward faculty, students from lower‐class origins tended to approach faculty with “hesitant appreciation” and middle‐class students with “critical suspicion.” These orientations or interaction styles of nonelite students were obstacles to the potential benefits of student–faculty relationships. These findings suggest that scholars and policy makers should pay attention not only to the experiences of lower‐class students, but also to the challenges confronting middle‐class students at highly selective universities.     

Grants to Needy Countries? A Study of Aid Composition between 1975 and 2005

This article discusses whether the poorest and most indebted countries receive aid in the form of grants rather than loans, by studying bilateral aid flows to low‐ and middle‐income countries between 1975 and 2005. The empirical analysis finds no evidence that more indebted countries receive a higher grant component, but it does show that poorer countries receive a significantly higher grant component, although the size of the effect is quite limited.     

Effective tax rates and firm size in Ethiopia

The literature on Effective Tax Rates (ETRs) focuses on high‐ and middle‐income countries, but there is very little evidence on low‐income countries. This article addresses this gap with new evidence from Ethiopia. We investigate corporate ETRs in Ethiopia and whether the distributional effects they have in practice are in line with the corporate tax policy design. We calculate ETRs in line with the literature in this field, using profit tax at the numerator and gross profit at the denominator. We then analyse ETRs not only using panel data, focusing particularly on their relation to firm size, but also including other explanatory variables. Our main result is that, despite a proportional tax rate, small firms face a higher effective tax burden than larger firms, while middle‐sized firms face the lowest burden of all. We highlight that tax systems can have practical implications that differ largely from their policy design, due to compliance costs and imperfect enforcement. Measures to reduce compliance costs for small firms are particularly recommended.     

Class and ideological orientations revisited: an exploration of class‐based mechanisms

Studies of the relationship between class position and political outlooks still only have a limited understanding of the class‐related mechanisms that matter for ideological orientations. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the mechanisms that link class position and left/right and authoritarian/libertarian orientations. Besides main factors such as income, career prospects, job security, education, class origin and class identification, the significance of work‐related factors such as work autonomy, working in a team, a physically demanding job and a mentally demanding job is studied. The findings are based on a survey specifically designed for this purpose and collected in Sweden in 2008/2009. A great deal of the association between class position and left/right orientations is explained by socio‐economic conditions; different classes sympathize with policies that will benefit them economically. Another important factor is class identification. Work‐related factors also have relevance, but the effect of class position on left/right orientations works mainly through the remuneration system. Class position is also related to authoritarian/libertarian orientations. However, this relationship is less explained by socio‐economic position per se, but is rather an effect of the educational system and its allocation of the workforce into different class positions. It also turns out that work‐related factors do not explain the class effects; however, a physically demanding job shows a unique effect. Overall, our findings suggest that besides factors such as class position, income, education and class identification, we need to consider work‐related aspects to derive a more complete understanding of the distribution of ideological orientations in Western societies.     

The Dynamics of Income Growth and Poverty: Evidence from Districts in India

This article examines the dynamics of the income‐distribution pattern in India during the post‐1991 economic reforms. It considers district‐level per‐capita income data across agriculture, manufacturing, services, and various constituent sub‐sectors, and finds evidence in favour of a uniform process of growth across sectors and regions, which has helped to reduce poverty. In particular, the article finds that growth in agricultural income and access to finance are important for this.     

Economic welfare,civil liberty,and suicide: an empirical investigation

Performing an international cross-section study for 30 countries, this paper investigates the dependence of suicides rates on real income per capita, real income growth and civil liberty. Suicide rates are transformed into logits, and weighted seemingly unrelated Zellner–Aitken estimates are obtained for both sexes and seven age groups, where the weights correspond to the size of the population in each of the subgroups of the different countries. All three variables have significant effects on the suicide rate. The economic variables have a positive influence: the higher real per capita income and/or real economic growth, the higher the suicide rate is. But these results vary between age groups: income plays a more important role for the middle age group, whereas economic growth is more important for the older people. Moreover, older women react stronger to income growth than older men. With respect to civil liberty, we get ‘expected’ results: the more liberty, the lower the suicide rates.