But how does language apply to social class and economic security in these places? I know in Malaysia there are huge differences in this regard between Malay s

But how does language apply to social class and economic security in these places? I know in Malaysia there are huge differences in this regard between Malay speakers, Chinese speakers, Tamil speakers, etc. and everyone there speaks English as a second language (and maybe Malay as a third if it is not the first language). Moreover you can't just look at income. You have to also look at overall cultural factors because these decisions and habits are often part of much larger cultural patterns within a specific community.