Latova N.V. The Identities of the Middle Class. In: The Middle Income Group in China and Russia. Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. ...

Abstract

When studying society and its members, researchers are bound to face the problem of classifying individuals into social groups, sooner or later. And while the matter of formal group classification is always more or less clear, what is far less evident is the way people identify themselves in relation to various social groups (i.e. which groups they see themselves belonging to), along with the way they perceive the groups (“us” or “them”) and the role the groups play in people’s lives (whether they bring them together or draw them apart). All of these questions may be answered by means of analyzing social identity. A person’s social identity1 means that a person identifies himself with a specific community (a professional, gender, status, or any other group). On the one hand, it is the result of a person’s self-perception and outlook on social reality; and on the other hand, it is the force the cements this perception and outlook, turning it into a foundation of life’s activity. A person’s actual behavior depends on who they think they are and which community they identify with the most, as well as on the number and nature of groups that they believe they belong to.