4 ms·

I agree: upper class isn't about wealth. So much of it is about culture (in the sense that culture breeds character traits). And the ambition to obtain wealth

I agree: upper class isn't about wealth. So much of it is about culture (in the sense that culture breeds character traits). And the ambition to obtain wealth in the middle class breeds character traits that impose a barrier for entering the upper class.

youngerdryas 13y ago
>the ambition to obtain wealth in the middle class breeds character traits that impose a barrier for entering the upper class. Care to elaborate on said traits?
- redcircle 13y ago
  One example: the inferiority complex.
  - youngerdryas 13y ago
    An ambition to achieve wealth breeds an inferiority complex? Actually quite the opposite. In the states snobbery of any kind is severely looked down upon, as it should be.
- kamaal 13y ago
  One example I can think of is saving mindset. To save so much that you ultimately have a lot but spend none of it.
tomkarlo 13y ago
This is what folks in the upper class like to believe so they can feel like there's more separating them from the middle class than just money. It's also a comfort to believe that even if you end up bankrupt, you're still "upper class". (And often, that people who are new money and richer than you are somehow not "upper class.") Make a million dollars a year, and you can go to all the charity balls and opera galas you want. And your kids can go to whatever prep school you want to send them to. That tells me it's about your wallet, not where your parents went to school.
- redcircle 13y ago
  It is quite possible for the middle class to move into the upper class. It is just ironic that the desire to entire the upper class is often part of neuroses that make it impossible to enter.
  - tomkarlo 13y ago
    That's a pretty vague statement. Do you have any facts or citation to support it?
    - intended 13y ago
      This is a good line of inquiry and one that should be put to the article itself. The article takes one event, and then reapplies it liberally to a popular narrative. I could never have imagined that this was HN material.

youngerdryas 13y ago

>the ambition to obtain wealth in the middle class breeds character traits that impose a barrier for entering the upper class. Care to elaborate on said traits?

redcircle 13y ago
One example: the inferiority complex.
- youngerdryas 13y ago
  An ambition to achieve wealth breeds an inferiority complex? Actually quite the opposite. In the states snobbery of any kind is severely looked down upon, as it should be.
kamaal 13y ago
One example I can think of is saving mindset. To save so much that you ultimately have a lot but spend none of it.

tomkarlo 13y ago

This is what folks in the upper class like to believe so they can feel like there's more separating them from the middle class than just money. It's also a comfort to believe that even if you end up bankrupt, you're still "upper class". (And often, that people who are new money and richer than you are somehow not "upper class.") Make a million dollars a year, and you can go to all the charity balls and opera galas you want. And your kids can go to whatever prep school you want to send them to. That tells me it's about your wallet, not where your parents went to school.

redcircle 13y ago
It is quite possible for the middle class to move into the upper class. It is just ironic that the desire to entire the upper class is often part of neuroses that make it impossible to enter.
- tomkarlo 13y ago
  That's a pretty vague statement. Do you have any facts or citation to support it?
  - intended 13y ago
    This is a good line of inquiry and one that should be put to the article itself. The article takes one event, and then reapplies it liberally to a popular narrative. I could never have imagined that this was HN material.