Paper short abstract:

My paper will argue that the understanding of middle-class in the Republic of Macedonia is defined by anything but income. While the older generation is contained by the past, the first post-socialist generation defines itself by its social-democratic values and its internationalism.

Paper long abstract:

I am going to argue that in Macedonia today the middle-class is a thin sliver between the really rich and the poor. I am going to ask how the middle-class in Skopje defines itself, and argue that today's middle-class and lower middle class define themselves in opposition to the supposedly corrupt and thieving upper-class. The middle and the lower middle-class, the people that were under socialism from the same class as today's oligarchs, define themselves as different to today's upper class mostly through their education. The middle-class is connected to international agents in the country, NGO's, journalists and foreign governments.They are computer savvy, speak English and other foreign languages fluently, go to cultural events and are intellectually superior to the Rich in the country. It is the generation that lived in both, in Yugoslavia and in the Republic of Macedonia. Their parents generation however have experiences a continuous regression. In the early nineties, at the height of the war in Yugoslavia, The Republic of Macedonia declared independence. During that time Serbia found a way to plunder the foreign currency accounts of Macedonian citizens, Greece boycotted the new Republic because of the name ‚Macedonia' which they felt was an appropriation of greek history, and Serbia was under boycott by the international community. During the same time companies were build to launder money, fancy foreign cars appeared in the streets. However, the middle-class does not envy the oligarchs but look down on them.