Our findings indicate that this misidentification is rooted in a self-understanding built on particular ‘origin stories’ ...blah blah blah... By positioning the

Our findings indicate that this misidentification is rooted in a self-understanding built on particular ‘origin stories’ ...blah blah blah... By positioning themselves as ascending from humble origins... My dad grew up on a farm and dropped out of high school. My mother grew up in Germany during World War II and its aftermath. My dad had shrapnel in his eye and was uninsurable because of it and was unemployed for months at a time. I grew up with a garden in the backyard and my mother cooking from scratch and sewing a lot of my clothes and all I heard was my parents stressing about money and telling me about their humble backgrounds. My mother worked as a maid for a lot of years. I was homeless for about a year in my late forties before I understood how upper class my mother's expectations were and that this was related to her mother having come from a noble family (that sold the title, so I don't have a title). I was a child when I was being told constantly about their humble beginnings and how they were humble working class stiffs and so forth. As a child, I believed what I was told. I think my parents believed it too. My mother resented working as the maid. All I heard for years was her bitterly and loudly complaining about how when she married my dad, she had a maid and now "I am the maid." When she married my dad he was an American soldier stationed in Germany and the exchange rate was 4 Marks to the dollar. All American soldiers had maids in Germany at that time because of the exchange rate, not because American soldiers are college educated upper class types. My dad was a foot soldier, not a desk jockey. Maybe sometimes people tell these humble origin stories because that's exactly how they understand their background. I also spent years homeless as an adult and I'm still dirt poor and yadda. I live humbly now and I have repeatedly had people on Hacker News -- where lots of smart educated people hang -- tell me that social class is entirely about your current income. So I don't know where in the hell I am supposed to have a nuanced discussion about "Well, yeah, money has always been tight. I've never had much money. But!...it's not as simple as I'm just some dirt poor lower class schmuck. My life is a lot more complicated than that." Once in a while I seem able to effectively make a point like that in a blog post.* But casual conversation? Nah. Good luck with that. * For example: https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/2020/12/this-is-real-thats-not.html https://streetlifesolutions.blogspot.com/2020/12/this-is-rea...