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The myth of the global middle class, globalisation’s fallback success story

ABSTRACT On the defensive in recent years, advocates of globalisation have taken to highlighting achievements in developing countries, where globalisation has supposedly pulled the majority out of poverty and catapulted them into the swelling “global middle class” remaking our world. This article provides a critical look at this interpretation. Carefully reviewing the global income distribution data behind such claims, it presents original calculations that generate new stylised facts for the globalisation era. More broadly, it argues for a more socio-historical approach that is better situated to discover the dynamics of class formation in our time.