Final answer:
The "middle class" term emerged during the Industrial Revolution, signifying a group that included professionals and commercial operatives who worked hard to maintain their status through discipline, morality, and education. They were distinct from the working class due to their consumption ability and social mobility goals, but also lived with the anxiety of potential economic decline.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term "middle class" was created by workers during the Industrial Revolution in response to the shifting socio-economic landscape that industrialization brought about. This era saw the emergence of a new group of professionals, including engineers, foremen, accountants, and bureaucrats, who found themselves in greater demand for overseeing and managing industrial and commercial operations. Members of the middle class were often characterized by having some wealth, promoting values such as cleanliness, discipline, and morality, and striving for social mobility through hard work and education.
In contrast to the impoverished working class, middle-class individuals enjoyed a higher standard of living and had the opportunity to consume more goods and services. However, they lived with the constant worry of economic downfall that could reduce them to the ranks of wage laborers, and thus they worked diligently to maintain or enhance their status. The middle class upbringing focused heavily on schooling and self-improvement to ensure future success, differing sharply from the factory labor-immersed lives of their working-class counterparts.