II. THE SEMI-UPPER CLASS.
This is the class that sociologists still usually call the “ upper middle class.” My objection to that phrase is that it implies “upper middle” is part of a larger body called the “middle class” and so is intimately related to what the sociologists call the “lower middle class,” also assumed to be a part of the larger “middle class” body.
They are becoming two quite distinct clusters and shouldn’t be confused.
At any rate, members of the semi-upper class-to revert to my terminology-are mostly confident, energetic, ambitious people who went away to college, then began a career somewhere away from their home town or neighborhood.
Most of them are with fairly large organizations where they are decision makers serving as managers, technologists. Or persuaders. The remainder are professional men or successful local businessmen.
Members of this semi-upper class are the hyperactive civic boosters who devote themselves actively to their roles in service clubs and country clubs, and their wives power the local charity drives.