Was the Lynds study of Middletown an attempt to chronicle the growing class struggle in America?
SEYMOUR MARTIN LIPSET: Well, the Lynds, of course, did focus on class relations. But there was an unfortunate thing about the choice of Muncie because in the book there’s a family called the X Family, which dominates. And this family of the Balls, they own, I think, the glass factory, the biggest factory in town. And the thing about it was that that was one family controlled, one industry controlled [the town]. So, [for] Muncie, it wasn’t just class [that determined the power structure], it was the control of a family and an industry. And this was not true for many other cities, and many other places. So, I think you’ve got an exaggeration of power. Power in Muncie clearly was power of the rich, of this family. To get ahead [people] had to be able to work with this dominant group. But seeing class and class conflict [in America] was very prevalent [at the time of the Lynd’s study]. But [in America, that] conflict never took the form of a socialist party which would try to transform the
