In 2004, the beginning of the political year was marked by an intense
focus on the middle class. Even earlier, during the closing months
of the previous year, the public had been alerted to the middle class
as an issue by virtue of journalistic investigations documenting the
malaise of social groups, which, all things considered, had been supposed
to be in good or passable health up to that point. There was
talk of poverty among vulnerable sections of the population, but not
yet of the impoverishment of the middle classes. Whether or not the
middle class was indeed becoming poorer then became the main focus
of the discussion. In this chapter we shall try to see how the question
emerged, how far it corresponds with the facts, and, finally, its significance
for Italian politics. With this in mind, we shall be asking, in particular,
whether in future the crisis of the middle class is destined to be
an important topic and recognized as such in the political arena.