What's the criteria to label an aircraft as "light"?

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I recently decided to refresh my mind on what’s considered a light aircraft, and see if they have a common pattern, especially regarding weight. After searching for a bit, I found the light aircraft list includes the C172, XCub, SR22, Spitfire, and the P-38. The odd thing about it is that the P-38’s MTOW is almost triple that of the C208 (and of the TBM, which is similar in weight to the C208), while the Spitfire is a few hundred kg heavier than the TBM in MTOW.

The topic I saw claimed that the reason these aircraft were classified as light is because their performance could compromise jet traffic (which is the great majority at a busy ATC hub), but something definitely feels off about an aircraft meant to outmaneuver, outclimb and/or be faster than another aircraft meant to do these same things over the former has worse performance than a simple single-engine aircraft meant to ferry passengers or cargo for a few hundred miles.

Therefore, a question arises: what exactly is the metric used to classify an aircraft as “light” or “not light”?

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Interesting!

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I think it has to do with having a low approach speed.

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I’ve been told this as well but you don’t approach at jet speeds in a TBM or C208 either. If you choose the approach spawn point in solo it drops TBMs and C208s at 90 knots, exactly the same as the P38 and 25 knots slower than C130s and Q400.

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