The Emerging Middle Classes and the Labour Market Policies: Actors and Drivers of BRICS’ Development

This paper is structured in two sections and has a two-fold aim: defining middle classes
as the social actors who are able to bring about the social change in the BRICS; detailing how
labour market policies are necessary for development.
The first section is devoted to the recent rise of middle classes in the BRICS. In the Southern part
of the world, middle classes have not emerged in the past as a driving force, nor as a social class
able to bring about modern dynamism and social transformations, but more as an elite 1 .
Nevertheless, we believe that the recent rise of middle classes in the BRICS countries, despite the
distinct geo-cultural settings, is a sign that development has made steps forward in the
aforementioned social contexts. That is the reason why nowadays the middle classes in the
BRICS can be considered as the main social actor promoting social change processes among its
countries2.
In the second section, particular emphasis will be put on the analysis of the role of active labour
market policies (ALMPs).