Századok – 1997
Tanulmányok - Gyáni Gábor: A középosztály társadalomtörténete a Horthy-korban VI/1265
1304 GYÁNI GÁBOR the layer of civil servants belonged, namely, to the middle class as regards its income, lifestyle, and cultural standard. By the end of the period administration employed a much wider layer of employees than what belonged to the middle class in the strict sense of the word. Although the gentlemanly character did not necessarily follow the demands of belonging to the middle class, it is a fact that being a civil servant did not automatically mean that the person was a member of the middle class. The social distribution of civil servants supports this view. Most gentlemen felt social identity with the middle class, but an ever increasing portion of civil servants came from other than genteel families. Finally, working at a public office was not a job exclusively for members of the middle class but needed expertise and certain qualifications. The three main elements of the "bourgeois" middle class were a) well-to-do artisans and tradesmen, b) employees or the management of private firms, and c) intellectuals (doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, and artists). Jobs connected with the market were often occupied by people of Jewish origin, which exposed this layer to an increasing political discrimination. Still it would be an exaggeration to identify the "bourgeois" middle class with the Jewry. It is similarly false that there was a sharp dividing line between Jews and non-Jews in the bourgeois layers of the middle class. According to the results of our analysis the middle layers of society were not fully integrated into a unified middle class but represented more than social groups living side by side. The sense of identity of civil servants could not create a real middle class in itself, since it could be created only with the attributes of bourgeois standards. So it was through the joint participation of the genteel and the bourgeois middle layers that the middle class was formed and reconstructed.
