It is often believed that a strong middle class is vital for the democratization of countries. Why?
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The “elite” is typically powerful enough to run things without democratic methods. They are not interested in change. They can hire and arm a strong security apparatus and manipulate the media. This generally holds true for all – capitalist, socialist, theocratic societies.
The “bottoms” often lack education to participate skillfully in democratic process. They often want change, being naturally unhappy at their place at the bottom and would probably opt for a revolution, as they do not have much to lose anyway (the bigger inequality in the society, the more true is this).
That leaves us with the middle class. They do want some change here or there, but they don’t want unpredictable revolutions, or they may lose what they have already. So they have both measures (education) and motivation to upstart the democratic process which ensure changes incrementally, without too big a risk to status quo.
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