Matching Concepts With Measurement: Who Belongs to Africa's Middle Class?. (15th July 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Thurlow, James; Resnick, Danielle; Ubogu, Dumebi; Resnick, Danielle
• Is Part Of: Journal of international development. Volume 27:Number 5(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 588
• Page End: 608
• Publication Date: 2015-07-15
• Subjects: Economic development projects -- Developing countries -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Economic policy -- Periodicals; Developing countries -- Foreign economic relations -- Periodicals; Economic development -- Periodicals; 330.91724
• DOI: 10.1002/jid.3105
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-1748

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="jid3105-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p id="jid3105-para-0001">This paper advocates for a conceptualization of the African middle class that would be universally valid: security from economic vulnerability and prospects for social mobility. We suggest three minimum criteria that are jointly necessary and sufficient to reflect this conceptualization: secondary schooling completion, decent housing amenities and skilled employment. Using household surveys for nine African countries, we then demonstrate how measures of the middle class based on expenditure thresholds refer to households with vastly different abilities to meet these three criteria. This cautions against overreliance on expenditure‐based definitions, which may obscure qualitative differences among the middle class across African countries. © 2015 The Authors. <italic>Journal of International Development</italic> published by John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.</p> </abstract>