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Middle-Class Experience in the United States in the Gilded Age, 1865-1900

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

This article suggests that members of not only the "new" middle class but also the so-called old middle class contributed to the emergence of modern American society. The author examines the experiences of members of the "old" middle class from midwestern small towns and cities as they sought to situate themselves within six subcultures that were intertwining to form a regional and national middle-class culture—professional culture, corporate culture, politics and the law, boosterism, male subcultures, and gentility. In each, their efforts focused on responding to the erosion of personal networks, a proliferation of choices within an increasingly differentiated and fragmented social and institutional landscape, and an increasingly impersonal society. The author suggests that members of both the old and new middle class contributed to shaping new definitions of self, gender, and identity that helped define a new national middle class.

Key Words: middle class • boosterism • middle West • masculinity • gender • gentility

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