In this issue brief, The Century Foundation's Bernard Wasow takes a close look at why most Americans want to be categorized as middle class. He notes that the poor are perceived as losers, the rich as snobs—the middle is where America’s hard-working families want to see themselves. Looking at the American middle class in a global context, Wasow makes makes five points:

• Compared to the middle class in other rich economies, the middle class in the United States is near the top.
• The gap between middle class Americans and rich Americans is greater than that in almost every other rich country.
• The gap between the top and the middle is growing faster in the United States than in almost any other rich country.
• The risk that an American middle class family will experience a period of poverty has risen sharply.
• The consequences of a collapse in earnings are greater in the United States than in other rich countries because the U.S. government does less than the government of any other rich country to mitigate poverty.

Bernard Wasow is a Senior Fellow at The Century Foundation.