African middle classness, politics and protest: on the context of this issue

ABSTRACT Middle classes in the Global South have become topical. They were considered mainly by economists in development-oriented institutions and praised as a factor contributing to economic development and democratic forces. We recapitulate some of the trends and remind the reader of earlier debates. We take stock of the variety of contributions and point to the efforts to have a more nuanced look at the composition and orientations of ‘middle classes’ and their political engagements. We maintain that the initial economistic reduction, measuring monetary income as the main criteria for middle classness, is insufficient and offers no reliable set of indicators as to the social and political as well as cultural positioning of members of such income groups. An appropriate analysis of the nature and role of African middle classes must consider four aspects: the specific class formations of African societies; the link between socioeconomic stratification and sociopolitical orientations; the limited knowledge and theorisation of African societies; and the need to apply a multidimensional and new research including diverse sociocultural elements and their contextual embeddedness. We argue that an intersectional lens can break up the classical competition of the one-dimensional paradigms and suggest decolonising research on protest and middle classes by integrating a perspective and theorisation from Africa. More attention should be paid to analytical concepts such as intersectionality and social milieu for the understanding of African societies and their potential for transformation through protest. This requires overcoming stereotypical and truncated assumptions about the middle classes.