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HOT OFF THE PRESS

The middle class
in emerging
markets: ordinary
or extraordinary?

There have been ongoing debates about the size and shape
of the emerging global middle class, whether in Africa or
elsewhere. Kerry Chipp examines new international research
from Turkey that provides useful insights into the attitudes of
South Africa’s emerging middle-class consumers.

THE MIDDLE CLASS IN AMERICA ?
gained prominence post-World
War II and the term ‘new Middle-class shoppers in Istanbul, Turkey economies witnessed a gradual
middle class’ was first used in 1951 by emergence of a middle class, which
sociologist C. Wright Mills. Twinned with about who defines what is normal and has now become the dominant class
its conception were picket fences, two- how they balance this with the reality in the 34 Organisation for Economic
child families and the American dream. of living in unequal societies. Deeply Cooperation and Development (OECD)
This group represented what was called rooted in the author’s approach is an developed countries.
the ‘democratisation of prosperity’ by acknowledgement of the structural
‘non-manual wage-earning technical transformation that dominates these But this is not the case in emerging
and managerial workers’. countries and how it impacts consumers markets, where the middle class is
who are socially mobile. small in number and often comprises
But, 65 years later, we require new individuals who have achieved a
ways to understand the emerging THE KEY CONCEPTS higher social standing than their
middle class of 2016 and their 21st- Kravets and Sandikci recognise parents. Not surprisingly, the new
century values and dreams, particularly that research on the middle class in class value meritocracy, achievement,
in the context of South Africa. dynamic emerging markets reflects self-reliance and adaptability – which
the difference between this consumer rise from the fast-track economic and
BEYOND ASPIRATION group and its counterpart in the political restructuring present in many
While we can debate the size of the new developed world due to the rapidity of countries, South Africa included.
global middle class, it is undeniable its formation. In contrast, developed
that it plays a powerful role in shaping
all consumer demand within emerging
markets. The middle class often deter-
mine what is ‘proper’ or a ‘must have’.

In a recent paper published in the
US-based Journal of Marketing, authors
Olga Kravets and Ozlem Sandikci
studied what it is to be middle class
in Turkey. Their paper is more than
a question of aspiration; rather, it is

42 strategicmarketing October 2016 – January 2017