Social class in Italy#Contemporary Italian social structure
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Social classes in Italy are bourgeoisie, white-collar middle class, urban petite bourgeoisie, rural petite bourgeoisie, urban working class and rural working class.
1970s Italian social classes according to [[Paolo Sylos Labini|Labini]]
In his Essay on social classes the Italian economist Paolo Sylos Labini presented the following classification, based on his analysis of income distribution:
- Bourgeoisie (properly so called), composed by big urban and rural landowners; entrepreneurs and managers of stock companies; autonomous professionals;
- Petite bourgeoisie
- Clerical petite bourgeoisie
- Relatively autonomous petite bourgeoisie: farmers, artisans (including small professionals), traders;
- Petite bourgeoisie composed by particular categories, such as militaries and clergymen;
- Working class;
- Lumpenproletariat.{{cite book|last=Labini|first=Paolo Sylos|date=February 1976|title=Saggio sulle classi sociali|trans-title=Essay on social classes|language=Italian|location=Bari|publisher=Laterza}}
Contemporary Italian social structure
A hierarchy of social class rank in Italy today.
:1. Bourgeoisie (10% of the working population){{cite web|url=http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Italy-POVERTY-AND-WEALTH.html|title=Italy Poverty and wealth, Information about Poverty and wealth in Italy|website=www.nationsencyclopedia.com}} includes high-class entrepreneurs, managers, politicians, self-employed people, highest-ranking celebrities, etc.
:2. White-collar middle class (17% of the working population) includes middle class workers not employed in manual work.
:3. Urban petite bourgeoisie (14% of the working population), is mainly made up of shopkeepers, small-business entrepreneurs, self-employed artisans etc.
:4. Rural petite bourgeoisie (10% of the working population) consists of small entrepreneurs or estate owners who operate in the countryside, mainly in agriculture and forestry.
:5. Urban working class (37% of the working population) refers to the people employed in manual work.
:6. Rural working class (9% of the working population) consists of people operating in the primary industry, such as farmers, loggers, fishermen etc.