: One difference is that the middle class has higher wages (usually salaries) than the working class. Another difference is that the middle class has more education (skill**) than the working class. And, importantly, yet another difference is that the middle class has more commitment to the capitalist order of things than the working class. 'middle class' ahs better marketable skills - personally, as I cannot, I consider driving to be a skilled occupation, but since so many people *can* drive, its value as a skill is slieght; likewise, in ancient egypt being able to read was a highly profitable skill, because of rarity - its not a qualitative difference in skill, its a marketability difference.
As Coates and Topham, in (I think, IIRC) 'The History of the Laboiur movement', a history of the T&GWU, when Dockers - a supposedly unskilled occupation, went on work to rule, or on strike, it soon became apparent exactly how much skill they actually had, when they couldn't be replaced.
Are office workers skilled/ I doubt it, most management and desk flyers are unskilled - a degree is a signifier of general aptitude, not of skill per se.
Some workers are just worth more than others because of the way the market works.
