The middle class as a large group within any society is an important category of interest, not only because they are the main driver of economic activity and, thus, vital to the economic development of any country, but because they are an interest group which also influences political and social life. Traditionally and in comparison to other groups, members of the middle class constitute a very broad stratum of the population with various professional, political, economic and social profiles.
If you are wanting to be more critical of the 'middle classes' then you need to be looking at literature around historical social change and late-modernity. Coming from a constructionist (Giddensque) perspective we can see the middle class as the long standing, and I emphasise I do not like the term because it draws the distinction of insider/outsider, "deserving working class'.
Under modernity, the class system was divided into three distinct groups: -
The upperclass, and
the working class which were subdivided into two categories
The 'deserved' working class
The 'undeserved working class
however, as a consequence of the growth of globalisation in the latter half of the twentieth century, in particularly the consumer credit boom, the people who were classified as 'deserved working class' were able to borrow credit and buy into the system of consumerism. Thus enabling them to socially move into a whole 'new class' - the middle class.
I would say that one of the key things to factor in is the time period being studied and the country being studied. "Middle Class" can have different meanings in say, the U.K. and the United States, and the role of the middle classes has changed through time. Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb The Hidden Injuries of Class. provide a good starting point, however.
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