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Where and What (for) is the Middle? Africa and the Middle Class(es)

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Notes

  1. My own engagement was motivated initially to some extent by the internal debate in the EADI Executive Committee around the theme for the General Conference. As a result, this contribution is based in part on earlier work (Melber, 2013, 2014). I thank Jürgen Wiemann for inviting me to this debate and his comments on a first draft of this text.

  2. However, the problem of reliable and secure data, especially in African countries – as repeatedly discussed by Morten Jerven (2013a, 2013b) – is not acknowledged.

  3. In contrast, Sumner (2012, p. 37) dubs the $4 to $10 group the ‘in-betweeners’, that is, between poverty and a secure middle class lifestyle.

  4. One just needs to remember the works of Frantz Fanon and Amilcar Cabral, who discuss the African petite bourgeoisie of their days (tantamount to today’s middle classes, so seen from a more aware class analytical perspective) half a century ago with differing conclusions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Uppsala, Sweden

    Henning Melber

  2. Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa

    Henning Melber

  3. South Africa Centre for Africa Studies, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

    Henning Melber

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Melber, H. Where and What (for) is the Middle? Africa and the Middle Class(es). Eur J Dev Res 27, 246–254 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2015.3

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