The Middle Classes

This article focuses on the relationship between class and political behaviour, with specific attention to what happens in the middle of social stratification. Through a review of literature, the author recon- structs the evolution of the political role of the middle classes in the capitalist era.

Although Özal frequently emphasized the middle class and he saw it as the key actor economically and politically during his political life, there is not any publication dealing with middle class in Turkey. Özal is also the person who implemented the neo-liberal economy policies after 1980 in Turkey. In this study, to analyze the presence and direction of development of the middle class in the neoliberal era in Turkey, we used General Population Census Statistics up to 2000 and occupational data after 2000 both provided by the TURKSTAT. In addition, we used the data of income distribution. According to occupation and income distribution data the middle class has expanded after 1980. To support the conclusion which is mostly opposite of the literature, we evaluated the development statistics such as per capita income and education indicators in terms of the middle class. These indicators also support the conclusion that the middle class is expanding in Turkey.