Which statement best explains the growth of the middle class in europe?
a) europe's middle class grew because it engaged in the african slave trade.
b) former peasants became members of the middle class because of their smaller tax burdens.
c) new economic institutions created jobs that required skill and knowledge, rather than land ownership.
d) spain's wealth spread to other european countries, enabling growth of the middle class.

C) New economic institutions created jobs that required skill and knowledge, rather than land ownership.

Explanation:

When how much you earned started to depend on how much did you knwo rather than how many lands did you have, the possiblity for better wages and better quality of life became possible for more and more people that didn´t own land but could afford an education, this meant the growth of middle class.

"the attempts of the proletariat to rise above this abasement"

a. men

and during later times male slaves as well