Comments on “Studying the Middle Class in the Modern City”

Sven Beckert argues that the history of the nineteenth-and twentieth-century middle class is best understood in comparative perspective. In this project, a focus on identities and culture is not sufficient; we need renewed attention to structurally and sociologically inspired investigations of class. Beckert also suggests that historians should pay close attention to issues of power and politics when investigating the history of the modern middle class.