Melber, Henning2016-11-072017Henning Melber (2017) The African middle class(es) – in the middle of what?, Review of African Political Economy, 44:151, 142-154, DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2016.1245183.0305-6244 (print)1740-1720 (online)10.1080/03056244.2016.1245183http://hdl.handle.net/2263/57682This Briefing and Debate article critically engages with the middle class phenomenon, which emerged as a prominent focus in Development and African Studies. Göran Therborn already wondered if we were entering a century of the middle class. He suggested that the middle class society had emerged as the symbol of an alternative future (Therborn 2012, 17), being promoted among others by the OECD report on global development perspectives (OECD 2011) and Nancy Birdsall (2010).en© 2016 ROAPE Publications Ltd. This is an electronic version of an article published in Review of African Political Economy, vol. 44, no. 151, pp. 142-154, 2017. doi : 10.1080/03056244.2016.1245183. Review of African Political Economy is available online at : http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/crea20.African middle class(es)Middle class phenomenonPostprint Article