SELF-STYLED “academic nomad” Hadas Weiss's first book explores culture in Germany and Israel by studying communities in-depth and over extended periods.

[[{"fid":"16969","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"link_text":null,"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]An anthropologist living in Spain, she uses literature review, formal ethnographic research and informal observation based on personal experience to explore the relevance and influence of the term “middle class” and her book is a scholarly but accessible exploration of a pervasive and damaging myth.

It opens with the unsettling suggestion that “middle class” is an ideology rather than a genuine identity within the capitalist class system. This, says Weiss, is why we struggle to develop a clear definition.