With this article we want to show how socio-cultural differentiation within the African middle class can be grasped conceptually and empirically. This analysis of socio-cultural difference adds a further dimension to the analysis of social structure beyond socio-economic stratification and/or class. There is no existing analysis of socio-cultural differentiation in Africa and large parts of the Global South. To date, social structure analyses relating to the Global South have been limited to the analysis of socio-economic strata, or class in the (neo-) Marxist or Weberian sense, or they use class in an unspecified way. In most cases, socio-cultural differentiation has been perceived and studied only in terms of ethnic or religious identities. For the purpose of analysing socio-cultural differences, we refer to approaches that have been used for the analysis of socio-cultural differentiation in European societies, especially for Germany:“socio-cultural milieus” and “small lifeworlds”.
https://epub.uni-bayreuth.de/2500/1/Neubert%20%26%20Stoll%202015%20Academy%20Reflects%201.pdf
Neubert, Dieter; Stoll, Florian. Socio-cultural diversity of the African middle class. The case of urban Kenya. In: Bayreuth African Studies Working Papers 14, 2015, p 1-17.