It's very different between counties and cultures and times. At one time in the UK, the middle class barely existed and the Church was important. At another time the ability of rich factory owners to buy big country estates confused matters in the way that new money always does. More clerks were slowly needed in industries such as insurance and more people became teachers and so on and the middle class grew, but still above a huge working class. Fast forward a few hundred years (and many steps) and we now find ourselves in a position whereby a skilled tradesman is definitely earning more than the bottom of office work and a lot more than call centre work. There's a few people at the very top who are definitely upper class and in between it's all about important (yet utterly unimportant) subtle distinctions which only matter to people who decide they matter.

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If you think the British system is mental btw, have a look at India's caste system, that \*is\* complicated.