Woman tells her sister-in-law she actually isn’t middle class and the sister-in-law gets very upset: ‘I said there were a lot of people who "survive" on a lot less. She rolled her eyes and said that was easy for me to say’

The middle-class identity crisis. Who's allowed to feel financially vulnerable?Being middle class has become an identity some people feel entitled to claim. It's no longer an economic category, but more of a concept to identify with.Both ends of the economic spectrum have negative connotations. Nobody likes to be categorised into the upper class, because being classified there implies that you have a lot of privilege over many unfortunate people. And of course, nobody likes being identified with the lower class because it feels like you're being cast out.It takes a different kind of lucidity to learn your place in society without being prejudiced. It's about knowing what privileges or lack thereof you have, and what you can do about them.When I realized I couldn't buy a house or live alone in a fancy apartment at 22 because, unlike my friends who did, I didn't have rich parents who paid for much of my stuff, it was freeing to me, and it allowed me not to feel so behind and to focus on earning my freedom step by step.Still, for some reason, it's much easier to recognise one's limitations than to acknowledge you have privileges over other people. Even though my family faced a few fi…

≈