While in the US “the squeeze of the middle class” has attracted substantial scholarly research and public debate, in Europe the focus has been on poverty trends and their impact on lower income groups. This may reflect the assumption that the still-strong redistribution capacity of European welfare states insulates the middle class from a US-style squeeze. As a consequence, there is relatively little comparative research on this issue, which is surprising given the emphasis of classical political sociology on the democratic significance of a stable and strong middle class. There are good reasons to believe that middle classes in Europe as well as in the US are under pressure: deregulation of labour markets and the financialisation of risk insurance are among the changes that may expose middle classes to greater insecurity in the context of the current economic recession. Thus, a number of questions motivate our proposed interdisciplinary session on middle-class economic insecurity, including:

(1) What components of the middle class have been mainly affected by economic insecurity?

(2) What are the main characteristics of such people, in terms of their labour market participation, income situation, household composition, and wealth?

(3) What are the main factors explaining exposure to economic vulnerability?

(4) What are the main consequences of economic insecurity?

(5) To what extent does this phenomenon differ from other well-known hardship conditions such as poverty and material deprivation?

(6) What roles are played by social, fiscal, and macroeconomic policies in protecting people from economic insecurity?