my parents hated my working class friends and their parents because they saw them as dirty gross people. they adored my richer friends who had pools and nice cars.
my parents thought of themselves as middle class because we had a clean house and clean cars and didn’t do ‘dirty’ things that working class people do, like drink. they also didn’t have manual labor jobs.
it’s more than about money. it’s about lifestyle and branding.
i have a middle class job, but a lot of people think i’m a poor working class loser because i don’t have the lifestyle markers and consumption habits of middle class. like i only own a base model car, in don’t travel internationally 2x a year, i don’t live in a ‘new’ house/condo, i don’t go out to restaurants with $1000 bills, etc
working class is dirty. middle class is clean.
my parents hated my working class friends and their parents because they saw them as dirty gross people. they adored my richer friends who had pools and nice cars.
my parents thought of themselves as middle class because we had a clean house and clean cars and didn’t do ‘dirty’ things that working class people do, like drink. they also didn’t have manual labor jobs.
it’s more than about money. it’s about lifestyle and branding.
i have a middle class job, but a lot of people think i’m a poor working class loser because i don’t have the lifestyle markers and consumption habits of middle class. like i only own a base model car, in don’t travel internationally 2x a year, i don’t live in a ‘new’ house/condo, i don’t go out to restaurants with $1000 bills, etc