Word: uppers
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...from 65.1% in 1970 to 58.2% in 1985 (see chart). The trend is far from being a completely odious phenomenon, though. The statistics show that more families departing the middle class have moved up than down. Families with incomes of $50,000 or more -- considered the gateway to the upper class -- increased from 13% of the population to 18.3% during the 1970-85 period. At the same time, the proportion of families below $15,000 grew from...
...brackets, both economic and psychological, around the group. At least one economist thinks this is folly and that Middle America is essentially a state of mind. Says Lawrence Lindsey, assistant professor of economics at Harvard: "A middle-class person is someone who expects to be self-reliant, unlike the upper class with its unearned wealth or the lower class with its dependency on society. Far from declining, the middle class is bigger than ever, and its ethic is alive and well...
...Patterson nor his wife Dorothy, a library assistant, both 37, has a particularly high- paying job. But their combined salary of $58,000 is enough for them to afford the $300,000 house they are building in Normal Heights, Calif. Even though the Pattersons hardly feel like the upper crust, they realize they are no longer typically middle class either. Says he: "I think of the middle class as Archie Bunker, the guy who makes $35,000 while his wife stays home and cooks macaroni...
...doubling up their substantial incomes, some young couples swell the ranks of the well-to-do by creating one upper-class family instead of two middle-class ones. Says Harvard's Bloom: "A pairing-off based on economics is occurring. Higher-income men and higher-income women are tending to find each other." Manhattanites Anthony Chase, 31, and his wife Debra, 30, who are both from solidly middle-class backgrounds, are likely to exceed by far the financial dreams of their parents. The Chases started dating at Harvard, where Debra earned a law degree and Anthony picked up a combined...
...Doolittle--is contrary to American traditions. Colonial Americans, notes historian Daniel Boorstin, prided themselves on the almost universal use of proper grammar. There were no discernible differences in patois between rich and poor. Unlike their British cousins who developed the language, Americans did not have to look to the upper crust for guidance on the proper use of the King's English. We have traditionally had to look no farther than our neighbors. Now, if we ask to see our neighbor, his son might reply, "I don't know where...