The book deals with the development of the middle classes during the 19th and the 20th centuries. It analyzes the transformations of their character in the sociological literature. It examines both the virtuos and the vices of the old social classes and the new ones. The autor takes heed of the problematics of the bureaucracy in the context of the development of the new social classes. He examines the difficult position of the middle classes in the process of globalisation and their ambivalent relation to the Welfare State. He pays attention also to the importance of the middle classes for the civil society, particularly from the point of view of so called the newest middle classes which are one of the product of the process of globalisation.