More on the middle class and framing

I posted recently about how the rhetorical category “the middle class” seems to keep growing (even as the actual middle class is shrinking). Then I read Jon Ronson’s article in this month’s GQ. Ronson profiles six people—actually, five individuals and one family—who represent different spots on the U.S. income scale, giving a glimpse of “how to live on $____ a week.”

It’s a solid premise, and Ronson approaches his subjects with empathy and a dose of righteous indignation. But I was startled by his methodology. He doesn’t look at someone from each of six income quantiles; nor does he start with someone in poverty and then add a given income amount for each subsequent subject.

Instead, each person makes five times more than the one before. So Ronson jumps from an impoverished dishwasher right to a two-income family of four making just over $45k, and then to his own “about $250,000, double that in a good year.” From there it’s three levels of stratosphere.