The Significance of the Middle Class Essay Example

The Significance of the Middle Class Essay Example The Significance of the Middle Class Essay The Significance of the Middle Class Essay The fact that a loosely defined middle class has grown quite rapidly in the last fifteen to twenty years is reason enough to focus more attention on it. But more importantly it is the implication of this trend which makes it a significant topic for research. In the absence of such research it is, of course, difficult to say what those implications might be. But one area in which the new middle class has made a significant impact is in the market for consumer goods. Not surprisingly the advertising industry has discovered the middle class before the academics. In this regard a report of the findings of market researchers commissioned by The New Straits Times is illuminating. The firm in question. Survey Research Malaysia, employed an apparently novel approach to research based on identifying what they call psycho-graphic segmentation in the consumer market, to divide the population according to what might be called different consumer cultures or subcultures. 1 Surprisingly, the major subdivisions identified by this research were not ethnically-determined, but bear a greater resemblance to classes. And among these/ a very significant class is composed of the NQTs or Not Quite Theres. To quote selectively from the article: NQTs appear to be halfway up the ladder of success but, as the name suggests, they are not quite there. This group is particularly introverted, spending-oriented, neurotic, unadventurous, traditional and lacking in confidence. They are also ambitious, family-oriented, religious and nationalistic. And, after discussing the consumer preferences of the NQTs, the article goes on to say: The NQTs have a lower average income than the Upper Echelons. While the proportion of White Collar Workers is high, they tend to be in the middle and lower levels of the group. The impact of the emergence of the NQTs on Malaysias consumer culture is there for all to see in the proliferation of shopping malls, western-owned or western-style fast food outlets and, increasingly, middle range restaurants; and in the expanding demand for a wide range of consumer goods ranging from clothing, electrical and electronic goods, and cars, to tourist locales, and theme parks all of which cater to the demand for fashions of distinction which will serve to distinguish the middle classes from the other urban (and rural) classes.