The ‘middle class’ is analysed in a range of different global contexts. The term often refers to a category of people who are somewhere near the middle of an imaginary social spectrum along which income, property, wealth and occupational opportunities are distributed. In the context of developing countries, or countries experiencing rapid economic growth, the middle class holds centre stage in economic and public discourse: its size is often used as an important developmental proxy, a litmus test for socio-economic growth, and an indication of political stability in the face of globalisation (Birdsall, Graham and Pettinato, 2000). In the field of development studies, it is commonly assumed that countries with larger middle classes are able to reach a consensus on public goods and economic development planning and therefore tend to enjoy faster economic growth, higher national income and better public services. In contrast, societies with polarised economic classes incline to focus their economic planning on distribution and redistribution between polarised factions that alternate in power (Easterly, 2001). In a comprehensive examination of the middle classes in East Asia and Latin America, Diane Davis demonstrates a direct relation between the size of the middle class and the state's economic and development planning, and notes that the middle class envisages its economic and political interests as differentiated from the interests of capitalists and of labourers.