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The role of the middle class in the evolution of societies, their economies and their politics is one of the oldest topics in political economy. In this paper we suggest a new conceptual framework for the study of the middle class in an effort to lay the foundations for a rigorous research program that would allow the assessment and study of what the middle class is, how we may want to measure its strength or lack thereof and how we may assess its impact on its social-political and economic environments. First, we need to define, in much clearer and more precise terms, what the middle class may be. What does it mean to be a member in this exclusive club? Then, we have to establish what are the variables that explain the size and strength of the middle class. Only then can we go on to explore the effect that the size and strength of the middle class may have on the economic, social and political strength for developed, developing, and transition societies. In this exploratory paper we give some preliminary intuition of what an adequate definition may include, some initial results that highlight what such a research program may achieve and a short discussion of how this work is directly relevant to the political economy of transition societies like Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia in the Caucasus.