I grew up dirt poor living in government housing. I discovered middle class when I was at the age I was able to go to my friend's house. At the time though I thought they were rich. I was just really poor 😅

In the UK when people say "middle class" it is roughly equivalent to upper middle class in America. Most people would call themselves working class. Moreover, wealth and income is often considered less important than education and mannerisms in determining one's class.

Sometimes I forget that J.J. is, in fact, a conservative.

as a poor person trying to climb my way out of the upper lower class, I very much look forward to the day i can comfortably seat myself at the lower middle class table, and one day retiring at a solidly middle class standard of living. wish me luck!

I remember in Keeping Up Apperances, a British comedy, Hyacinth telling her husband to look happy while gardening cos otherwise he'll give the impression that they can't afford a gardener. That is what it means to be middle class, I think. Hyacinth Bucket (she pronounces it bouquet) is the quintessential British middle middle-class social climber.

I'd consider our family 'lower-middle' class, hearing a 4-bedroom 3-bathroom house sounds more like a wealthy class to me, relatively speaking. lol

I grew up in (and still am) lower-middle class, but my extended family are upper-middle class (on father's side) and poor (on mother's side). Because of this, I know how people tend to be in those situations. I definitely see how people are in both of those classes as well. All the kids on the upper-middle class learned from their parents to spend more money than they really have just to have 'nicer things.' Meanwhile the poor people spend all their time daydreaming about what they could have. In the end, I think I managed to adopt an attitude that is grateful for the things I have and to save money to buy nice things. And to buy things on sale.

My parents fought middle class conformity by never buying name brand items. I was taught, "if you buy name brand you have been conned and brainwashed by commercials" 😂😂😂

Well said. I have the experience of falling from the middle class into poverty. A whole bunch of misfortune can - and indeed sometimes does - happen to someone. It doesn't take much, actually. A string of seemingly minor things - particularly damage to property, auto and loss of employment all in a row - can spiral into the horror you've described as being feared by the middle class. I think the Book of Job has a lot of wisdom in it : misfortune isn't correlated with either virtue or a lack thereof. Sometimes bad luck happens. Be thankful if it hasn't hammered you. Poverty is certainly very hard from which to climb out.

I grew up in the working class on a public housing estate in the low-income outer suburbs of a major Australian city. I am now firmly in the middle class, but only since adulthood when I got an honours degree and a well-paying professional government job. It’s interesting what you said about poor people not caring too much about what others think of them. To a large extent this is true, but not in my family’s case. There are many working-class people who have aspirations and pretensions to a higher status. On the estate I grew up on, there were plenty of frontyards of derelict houses with rusty unregistered cars up on blocks and shirtless barefoot kids playing in the streets, but some houses (including ours) were absolutely spotless. Our house had an immaculate garden and our car, though old, was always gleaming, despite our poverty. The anxiety you talk about of middle-class people falling down also works the other way, of working-class people anxious to prove that they are better than their peers. I’m also interested about how Frum referred to thrift being a middle-class value. When I look at my fellow middle-class people, I see anything but. They are all up to their eyeballs in debt. I find that my working-class background has made me thrifty and financially self-disciplined, because I know poverty and I know the importance of having a safety buffer should I ever lose my job or have an accident or a medical emergency. People who have never known genuine adversity spend money like drunken sailors because they cannot imagine anything but prosperity. I think the middle class is changing. Home ownership is no longer the be all and end all. I’m not sure about Canada but Australia has a massive housing bubble and even middle-class professionals on six-figure salaries can’t afford to buy a home. Middle-class millennials are also rebelling against suburban ennui and now live in rented flats on new apartment developments in the inner city where life is a bit more stimulating, and are forgoing family life. Uber has replaced car ownership, Tinder has replaced marriage and overseas travel has replaced child-rearing. As for me, for all the faults of the middle class, leaving the working class and joining the middle class is the life achievement of which I am the most proud. Life in the working class is often violent, nasty, and demeaning. It was a culture dripping with prejudice and hatred and conformity, a conformity even more stifling than in the middle class. As one of my best friends asked me once, “how did a nerdy gay guy like you grow up there and not get the shit beaten out of you every day?” “But I did get the shit beaten out of me every day,” was the only answer I could give. “Oh. I see.”

There's this related phenomenon where people from actual upper or lower class self-identify as middle class, bloating the demographic on questionaires and more importantly influencing culture and perception. Feel free to google it; I remember there were studies that found that people with annual incomes of multi-millions still call themselves middle class, for reasons such as 1) humbleness 2) only comparing themselves to their peers and concluding they're "average", or 3) not wanting to think themselves as part of the upper class that everyone else blames for being exploitative. Similarly, the poor have reasons to rationalize themselves into believing they're at least lower-middle class. This becomes more apparent in politics, because when a politician claims to be on the side of the middle class, the poor in general don't say "those are not my interests", but instead say "that's me, I am an aspiring middle class person". So we end up having politicians all trying to hijack the concept of middle class because almost everyone except for self-aware millionaires think they are middle class.

As someone raised in a upper middle class family in the Philippines (Specifically Metro Manila) I can relate, Like due to the economic improvements in our country we went like from lower middle class in 2000s to upper middle class in 2010s and we are always reminded of how unprivileged our parents are like saying how hard they worked in the fields and they sold stuff and etc. but we also like said in the video suffer from anxiety by looking kinda rich for others when in reality can't afford it everyday anyways here is filipinos see the middle class Upper middle class - those who travel to countries such as Japan, South Korea and etc. - owns SUVs (probably a Mitsubishi Montero Sports or Toyota Fortuner) and probably has 2 cars - Has probably bigger houses and lives in gated communities and maybe even condos - Has a medium sized business or executive position in corporates - Sends kids in top private schools Middle middle class - Can afford to travel overseas in cheaper countries or places such as Singapore or Hong Kong - Owns 1 car like Toyota Vios or Just commute - Has a sizeable house probably a townhouse or rents one - a good paying and decent position in corporation or small business - Can send kids to decent private schools Lower Middle class - easily confused with the working class - usually travel to local destinations such as Baguio City, Cebu and Boracay - They can afford to buy a car like Toyota Wigo the minicars but most do commute - they might be renting a house if they are living in the metro manila but probably they have their own house they own. - Probably someone working in the BPO industry (eg. Call centers) or the service sector (eg. Teachers and etc) - Most send their kids to public school. It still varies to other places in our country but thats how we stereotypically see things in our metro and glad to see how canadians see the middle class and its greatest thing that our world has and achieved a chances for us simpletons to experience a decent life yet kinda sad it brought forth anxiety and family problems and etc

growing up right on the poverty line my whole childhood one way or the other has given me a very, very different perspective on this. I don't think there are all that many differences between the poor and the middle class in the ways you list. That sense of place and thrift and work ethic and sense of status are maybe shaded differently, but they are certainly there in the modern, north american poor. Consumer culture makes it very, very difficult to be poor, especially from a smallish town where the relatively wealthy, middle, and poor all went to the same schools, and thus you can see just what all everyone else has. It also means that despite getting any number of other breaks (having a 150's IQ and pretty much being gifted the best mentors in the world, for instance and thus being able to even get a MA with relatively little effort) mean pretty much nothing in actual material terms. I'm stuck working what would be a lowest-of-lower middle class job because my breaks all ran out at the moment a family member had a financial and medical emergency. Between all of us it takes to keep my mom, her disabled spouse and daughter, afloat we are probably right back in the "upper poor" type of category. 80's and 90's conformist culture also had several other potent knockbacks of other sorts. Growing up gay and poor certainly didn't help me appreciate middle class life. The baked-in, predetermined nature of how one is supposed to dream kept coming up against who I am, which sucked. Things have changed in a way, and in many ways I despise how LGBT culture has become inflected with those respectability ethics. That being said, the miracle that made the middle class is substantial, but there is enough wealth in this country that we could all but if not eliminate actual poverty. And the thing is, poverty is self-reinforcing. I have a hard time saving money because 1) any emergency immediately empties my savings and 2) I know this, so why save? What good will it do? Not to mention the anxiety of trying to put it all together time after time. It is bone-crushingly exhausting. If there were a floor you couldn't fall below, if poverty were not really an option unless you actively sought and chose it (and there are reasons of freedom and reasons more hippie-like to do so for those so inclined) these nations would be a lot better off, and in many ways so would the world. So that brings me to my biggest critique of middle class culture, its disdain for "welfare". We all benefit from the group enterprise that is government in various ways. The government does very well hiding the ways it advantages the middle class and even better how it advantages the rich. It makes the benefits for the poor pretty damn obvious and easy to despise, though. If we could overcome that reticence to accept that we are all, to some extent, in this together and provide everyone with a basic modicum of respect and stability and freedom from fear well, both the current middle and the current poor would be better off. And the rich not that much changed. And my bet would be that our economies would be that much more dynamic and there would be that much more wealth to spread around, both at home and abroad via trade and charity and before long, a rising tide would lift all boats. But it is the very conservatism and fear of loss of status and money of your middle class idea that I see standing in the way.

As a person who grew up on the poverty line, being middle class represents an ignorance to the struggle of others. I have had so many people "naturally" assume I have so many things that they do, when in actuality, I don't. All of my middle class friends were ignorant to the fact they were middle class until I pointed out the differences between our lives. So many middle class people I have met are ignorant of, or indifferent to the struggles of less well off folks. we don't think like we're poor. We know we are. Getting off of welfare is so hard these days. We bust our asses to get a fraction of a fraction of what even some lower middle folks get without a second thought of, "will this stop me paying the bills this month?" I didn't choose to be born into a family who can barely pay rent. This is my experience, and is in no way representative of all cases. I felt compelled to share my point of view as JJ asked

Your point on younger people's view of middle class is interesting. I definitely notice amongst my colleagues that they seem desperate to leave behind that status as a way to prove to themselves they've accomplished something worthwhile. I'd love to hear your take on Canada's relationship with it's oil industry and with the province of Alberta

This channel is extremely underrated

Middle Class life is one of the greatest societal advancements we've ever achieved. Instead of JUST the extremely poor and JUST the extremely wealthy, we now have a gradient middle ground wherein most people have the common subtle luxury of living in that middle ground. Are there issues here and there? Yeah sure, but we can't let ourselves be blinded to the fact that the middle class is great, and this is all coming from someone who is lower middle class.

JJ, you should cover the history and the beliefs of Canada's Social Credit Party. I think it's really weird and interesting, lol

As someone who was raised in a poor family and reached the middle class through hard work and discipline, I’m always conscious of how easily I could fall back into poverty, and terrified of the prospect.

To me, the existence of a middle class is one of the most important indicators of economic success. The middle class represents the idea that the wealth of a nation is relatively well distributed, where the majority of people have the ability to create and retain wealth. Without a middle class, we would certainly fall into a system where a few people have all the money and boss around the rest of the population, working very degrading, low wage jobs. Having a middle class means that anyone has the ability to work their way up from the lowest of the low, to the highest of the high. Without it, most people would be stuck in perpetual poverty. You guessed it right, I for the most part, came from a very standard middle class. Mu family grew up in a big home, we were able to afford luxuries like video games, vacations, and the candy that my sister and I begged my mom for in the checkout line. I sort of have an interesting way that I have historically interacted with my social class. When I was 11, my parents divorced, and it really created an obvious divide between the 2 households. My middle class father, who kept the nice home my parents bought, kept working his job that easily afforded his middle class lifestyle, and was the one who bought me my first car to drive, opened up a bank account for me, and paid for nearly all my expenses. My mom lived in an apartment up until about a year ago, she often bounced between low wage jobs, basically anyone that would hire her, and struggled to get by. I think one of my moms greatest insecurities was appearing too poor in comparison to my father (kind of like what you described about the anxiety of being middle class), so she always tried to project herself as having a lot more money than what she really did. This meant things like ordering pizza instead of eating at home, getting cats like the cat my dad had, buying expensive TV's and furniture that she couldn't afford. Luckily my mom has resurfaced into a pretty comfortable middle class lifestyle again, by becoming a full time worker for the post office, and buying her own home (ie being free from landlords). Although I pretty clearly fell into the middle class income area, I never really felt connected to other middle class families in my community. A lot of my friends were from lower class families, who struggled to make enough money to survive. My sister also fell into this category for the most part. It would be interesting whenever I would have friends over, because they would feel far more comfortable at my moms low income household than my dads middle class household. Its like my moms house felt normal, while my dads felt like they were somewhere they didnt belong.

I honestly have had the opposite experience with being middle class in terms of anxiety. I grew up in an slightly upper middle class household but most of my friends came from more lower middle to comfortable middle class households. I never got the feeling that we were trying to act more wealthy than we were and a few times found myself downplaying my family's wealth because I didn't want to sound like a posh spoiled rich kid.

Middle class things that are common but I have never experienced: - Owning your own bedroom as a child. I still share with 3 others even though I turn 19 in August - Going on holiday. I have never left the country, and don't even have a passport. Closest thing to a holiday that I've experienced is going to the local beach. - Pocket Money. - Being picky over what brand of food you buy. I am essentially forced to buy whatever is cheapest. - Driving Lessons. I'm unable to get even an entry level job, even though I hold a professional qualification that is roughly equivalent of Year 1 of uni. (Advanced Higher Geography)

I grew up middle class, and one of the biggest middle class values I was taught that you didn’t mention is the value of education. I think this was common among my middle class classmates too. The idea was that we should strive to get good grades in school so that we could major in something valuable in college and then be middle or upper class (i.e., do as well or better than our parents job-wise) as adults.

Canadian: puts whataburger in video Me: smiles in Texan

I was raised in a working class family with middle class values. That means that consumerism, conformity, anxiety, etc were definitely part of my existence. It also means that the anxiety was higher because we weren’t middle class and much closer to slipping into poverty...which did happen after the oil boom went bust in my state in the 1980s and the recession hit my city as well. My family reluctantly applied and received welfare until it was able to recover and re-enter the working class. The consumerism is different as there will be things outside of your ability to purchase because what extra income there is isn’t often enough to keep up with the quick moving fads. The episode of South Park where one of the kids doesn’t have the latest fad toy and by the time he does get it the fad has changed is definitely relatable to probably most working class kids. Being working class means you get an understanding of both poor and middle class life and since working class people also often interact with upper classes in some employment it means we at least are aware of what the upper class is like. Which is to say you realize that people are people and they all seem to want the same basic things: to be secure/safe, to be loved/cared about/appreciated, and to find enjoyment and purpose in life via whatever means are available to them. So I come from a family with both entrepreneurs and employees (some government some private sector) that income wise never got above the working class (which technically is where I’m at, too, currently), but had the appreciation and values and emulated the middle class. I mean I was taught etiquette by my grandparents “just in case” I should ever get invited to eat with middle class and upper class folks (or as my grandmother would say “you never know in life if you’ll dine at the White House or at a Palace, better to be prepared and make a good impression!” And I learned different types of etiquette for differing cultures, too (because you just never know). I was taught to avoid slang and speak “properly”, informed on history including family history (my family made the land run of 1893 here) and geography, to dress “properly” while still finding ways to express my individuality, about politics, economics, etc, etc, etc. So because of the I have friends from various backgrounds and get along with most people regardless of culture, socio-economic class, religion, political ideology, etc.

I'm quite into the idea of middle-class life. The idea that one has enough free time and money (unlike being poor, which typically means you're scraping by) to enjoy things, but not so much money and time (unlike being rich, which gives you lots of resource-access) that you enjoy the most outlandish things is quite appealing. I think it's personally because I can't stand rich people (when I told someone that I would rather live anywhere but Florida and didn't get why his rich family moved down here, he said, 'Where else would we put our airplanes?'), but I much prefer the natural and small-consumer style of the middle-class. Nature reserves, computer clubs, neighborhood BBQ, etc. I'm less into the idea of consumer culture (I don't try to spend a lot of money), so I tend to lean relatively liberal-progressive on that left-right middle-class spectrum, but it's still nice to be able to buy things and have things to buy. My fear is not the death of the middle class itself (it has moved lower economically, but that can be corrected), but the death of middle-class community. Community centers, libraries, religious institutions, schools, neighborhood homeowner clubs, they're eroding lightning fast despite us having more access to technology that lets us get together than ever! Why? I don't know why, but we need some sort of sense of community. A personal anecdote of mine is when I saw a dog with a collar running down the street. When I knocked on 3 separate doors to find out whose dog it was, no one opened up their door. One I could tell was ignoring me, because they kept talking behind the door despite how much I knocked, and another only shouted through their window. It was sad. Imagine actually knowing your neighbor, or NOT knowing them.

When ever we ate dinner at my house my mom always used the “What would you do if the Queen was eating dinner with us” line

I was born into a lower middle class/working class family mostly from Railroaders during the baby boom (though none in my family are in railroading anymore). I had the Average lifestyle for that class but was also taught that if i wanted something i would have to work for it and as soon as i was of legal age had jobs while in high school to buy all the lovely crap that i wanted and was able to enjoy myself even though i had to work in retail to get it. And working in retail will open your eye's to the many, many facets of the middle class psyche, some good but overarching on to the bad.

I grew up in an upper-middle-class family in the Greater Boston area. My dad is a senior engineer/lab manager and my mom is also a bureaucrat. We lived in a nice neighborhood, we're able to afford luxury items like a sailboat, motorboats, campers, and frequent vacations, mostly domestically, but every few years, internationally. Both of my parents came from working-class backgrounds, so they made sure to instill a mindset in our family that we were just like any comfortable middle-class family.

Look forward to your uploads every Saturday.

upper class in Germany: having a job of profession/owning real estate/houses/woods/areas or have ancessors who do/did, going to state opera, forcing kids to learn classical music middle class in Germany: Audi, own house, ski trips to Austria. Voting for green party (since 2018) lower middle class/upper lower class in Germany: asian brand SUV, Borussia Dortmund, trips to Mallorca ...so my grandparents were typical german "middleclass" in the 70s/80s/90s: own house/property granpa had a government job, my granma worked part-time. They`ve earned enough so they hadn`t had to spent all their time working. They had time for house/garden/family activities. I don`t think the conpemporary "middle class" here can afford those things nowadays...especially the house thing und the time for family.

What reminds me of being middle class is having birthday parties at the park or beach with family and friends.

As a young, middle-class person myself, I think specifically what gives material middle-class possessions their value is the subversion and parody in art that you mentioned. That parody and subversion leads to creatives learning more about what’s under the hood of popular brands and products, therefore creating NEW popular brands and products. Matt Groening made The Simpsons after seeing the fake happiness in family sitcoms from the 80’s. South Park took the “animated adult comedy” concept that The Simpsons popularized and took it to the extreme with shocking humor. The list goes on and on with examples. I think creatives subvert popular things in art, therefore making new art that defines another generation of middle-class people.

The middle class in my opinion is the only reason capitalism and western culture has remained so stable and survived so long and it’s ability to adapted and force society as a whole to adapt ensures the torch is carried on.

That video got me thinking about my life growing up, as I also self-identify as middle-class. I grew up in a house my parent own in a family of 5, we had two cars for most of my childhood. We could afford to buy consumer goods, although, my parents would sometimes tell us "No, I'm not buying this", and they also were not keen on me or my sister damaging or losing objects, they would tell us "You know, I can't keep buying X or Y". They also could afford to expose us to media that emphasized the limits of our consumer culture, and its environmental impact. They wanted us to do well in school, behave well and respect authority figures. That bit about appearances is something I've tended to associate more with the upper-class, who wants to keep its prestige, and to a lesser extent, to the lower or working class, as reputation is one of the rare things they have, and being in a place of scarcity makes you more defensive of what you have.

Lol, “they care about the kind of friends I have” my parents were just happy that I HAD friends

"It may sound like I'm being kind of snide & sarcastic about this. But in all honesty I really do like middle class culture." Frankly I consider this attitude essential to a healthy self-identity. You have to be able to laugh at the absurdities in your own way of life or at least appreciate how bizarre they may come across from the outside. If not, you're probably very insecure about your values & beliefs.

Coming from a upper middle class I am constantly reminding that where we stand doesn’t make us better than others around us. One thing my dad does is when he comes across lower class who have had a hard time (drugs addiction etc) he tries to help them by giving them small blue collar jobs to do around our properties. It has made me realize that Some good people have had a hard life and should be given the opportunity to overcome their struggles. That said one thing I did inherit from my parents is ambition (mom care from a single parent house hold barely middle class and my dad came from a “comfortable” middle class family) so one thing that I aspire to do is join the “rich” class as I grow older. But getting into their social “clique” is probably the biggest boundary for me. Idk why I’m saying this. Thi is what this video made me think of and I love your content, it makes me feel easier to react to. If you know what I mean.

Awesome clip. Love the view. Thank you.

I grew up in a middle class family. My parents have a lot of ideals that I either don't agree with. My parents are so concerned about what other people think all the time. They lecture me on how I have my hair or the fact that I don't spend a fortune making my lawn look amazing. I have never cared what other people think about me and I always found it odd how people that claim to be Christian worry so much about what other people think.

Very good explanation and take on the middle class, and the culture surrounding it. My upbringing was middle, and later upper middle class, and I'm very thankful to my parents for being able to work hard to have provided my brother and I such a great upbringing.

In Argentina an upper class it’s like middle-class in USA

Thank you for this video. I really enjoyed it.

Had no idea I needed a video explaining this so well - thank you!

Couldn’t agree with you more! Amazing video JJ!

Oh my gosh, this video is like a whole other level of answer to the question I asked during your live stream the other day! Now I KNOW what I have to send you. Also, as someone who grew up lower class for most of his childhood and then became middle class towards the end of it, I definitely enjoyed this video. I've always thought I wanted to have a good amount of money when I grew up, but this video definitely reinforces the fact that what I really want is to live a comfortable middle class lifestyle.

Super helpful! Thank you!

I grew up feeling bitter towards middle class people because i used to get bullied a lot for being poor. The kids in my school couldn't even fathom wearing the same backpack for more than 2 years in a row. Now my family is (barely) able to afford basic necessities, clothes, wifi and phone service and I feel middle class lol

Consumerism certainly has a bad side. It's not good to identify with having an iPhone XS Max. It's much better to identify with _doing things_.

This was a really interesting and eye opening take for me and I come back to this video quite often. I was born into extreme poverty with unstable alcoholic parents who sold marijuana to survive and help us get by, so my experience is a whole lot different than yours and I've seen the sides of consumerism and capitalism and this kind of middle class experience that are dark and nasty and oppressing, but if anything this makes me strive to pursue a fruitful working life and create a good life for myself. I'm grateful for all of the sacrifices and awful risks my parents took to keep me clean and relatively fed and warm at night, but I feel that I more than deserve the comfort and quality of life that this particular standard of living offers and I want the same for my future children, who I plan to have with a good partner once I'm settled and satisfied. Even if I could, I would never change my upbringing because it shaped my character and hardened me in a way that I feel like I can live through anything, and I still have pretty alternative views on life itself, let alone its intricacies, but I'm slowly starting to dismantle my guilt around the idea of having a comfortable life because I shouldn't have to feel guilty about that, and neither should the people who are born into it. You always get me thinking, J.J. !!

Thanks for the video. Your analysis is brilliant !

"And if I were poor I wouldn't be making KZfaq videos" That line seriously brought a smile to my face. :D Great writing!

I wish there was a button for 'Love', because I love this episode. Truly great, JJ.

I'd say that here in the UK what you'd see as the lower half of the middle class would call themselves working class. This is partly due to the societal upheaval a few decades ago in which the traditional working class jobs disappeared. Some people managed to do quite well out of this period, but would still call themselves working class, which in the UK is quite a strong identity. The upper class is still very much intact, though perhaps less publicly prominent as they were.

This was really valuable for me. I just had not connected the dots in the way you have. This explains so much about the relationships inside my family, wherein some branches were squarely middle class and some were living in a state of poverty and chaos.

Gettting better and better at these vids JJ

That was an excellent and insightful video essay.

Citing Darkwing Duck gets you an automatic upvote. Also, your explanation is a perfect example of why media these days is going downhill. Media in the 80s/90s was made by middle class people who got jobs as writers/actors. Today, you have super rich college brats and super rich older producers/actors who control nearly every facet of media. And they are tasked with making products to appeal to the middle class. But they are so detached from their target demo that they can't even understand them. It's not that the rich people hate the middle class (though some do). But that they literally don't understand what appeals to the middle class, because they are not part of it. So we're getting endless reboots of old IPs, re-imagined into the mindset of what the rich people think they represent. And what a shock, quite often it comes off as inaccurate and condescending. And this is also why a lot of the middle class is feeling under assault. When the news and movies are constantly looking down their nose at the "commoners" then you're going to start feeling snubbed. This wasn't a big deal in the 90s. Sure, there were rich snobs. But the media still tried to make stuff targeting the middle class, not talk down to them. I think it is obvious from my argument that I'd like a return to the way things were in the 90s. But it will take a lot more people speaking up (and more importantly, speaking with their wallet) to change things.

I grew up lower middle class. It was a very humbling experience. Take nothing for granted. Be forever grateful for everything you have.

I found this really enlightening. When I grew up, my family bounced between working class and welfare class, and I never had much exposure to the middle class except through TV. I managed to get a tertiary education and a solid middle class job, and I've been in the middle class for 20-odd years now, but I've always had this persistent feeling that I don't really understand any of my new peers, and this video did a lot to explain it to me.

Growing up in Portugal, I can say that I'm lower middle class. I was born on a city where you don't really have a "Poor area" or how we call it "Bairro" or Hood ,Projects. Why? Because in most cities of Portugal we have a rich houses and 50 meters or less a poor area. On cities like Porto and Lisboa, is where you can find those areas. Another thing that I would like to share is the fact that our poor areas are multiracial, opposing the American Segregation. Don't get me wrong,segregation still exists, mostly with gypsies. But, I grew up on a little street in front of a park that we call "A Bala"(The Bullet) there's a lot of drug-dealing etc..and that's another thing, Lower Middle Class and Middle Class mostly live in this sort of areas which is different from the American Suburban Style.

Simple way to put it is too rich to be poor but too poor to rich. Now it's complex to exactly define it but what most can agree on is it's shrinking. Rising cost of living and paycheques not keeping up with inflation is making the middle class an endangered species. The rich get even richer while the poor keep getting poorer and more who used to be in the middle class are fitting in the poorer categories.

Great video!

You are awesome . Love this video

I really appreciate your videos JJ, it's important to keep in mind that the small things in life matter too. But I'm really uncomfortable to kind of glorify the middle class like that. In my experience, often times people on the middle class fail to see and understand the life of people who are outside of their bubble.

I am considered Middle class here in Canada. If only I won the lottery 😅

I grew up working class and I gotta say, I came up with a definite resentment towards the sort of advantages and conveniences so many people had that we didn't and the quiet contempt we seemed to be held in.

Thank you for your videos , J J . You're one of the only people I can listen to for any amount of time , as you don't push any thoughts on the viewer. Great work !

I used to be lower middle class when I was younger, but I think that my family has risen to the comfortable stage since

Im from the Flemish middle class. Never gave to shits about social standing/looking richer than I am. But I know some people did.

Everyone who's not sleeping on the street and cannot afford a private jet thinks they're the middle class. One of the most ambiguous ill defined useless term ever.

Really enjoyed this vid. Excellent work!

Does the middle class actually exist anymore. It seems like it's covered by a facade of debt, lack of savings, increase in consumerism, and impulsivity.

Damn, I had a shirt just like that when I was a kid in the 80s.

Can i just say how absolutely accurate you are in this video especially at 10:29 . As a young guy from the middle class i feel like that is exactly how i feel. So thank you for this video!

I found your ideas about middle class anxiety really interesting. Looking back on it, I think this is the reason I get really embarrased going out in public with my friends, and become the "mom friend" and try to make them act more proper. As a kid, my parents wanted us to appear as the perfect family in public, and it was drilled into me always to have very appropriate manners in public. I think wealthier people feel more entitled to behave badly and poorer people have other things to worry about. It was totally subconscious to me, I never realized why I do it until you pointed it out.

When I got into highschool I started to shop at the thrift store and my dad was very confused as to why because he would always say that he'd give me money for the mall but I refused cause I personally wanted to be independent and save money. This video though definitely points to my dad's notion of "looking expensive" like when he bought his first brand new car he wanted his Nissan Altima to be black with tan leather interior because it looked more expensive in his eyes. Unfortunately the car only came on Navy but my dad loved it and prized it just the same. I have a hard time understanding the consumerist standpoint of middle class in regards to like shopping at Walmart instead of locally or at the mall instead of thrifting/local stores; however, I also realize this comes from a point of privilege being "comfortable". I think though as people become more mindful of their spending power, and the impact of climate change, that the middle class will shift from consumerist to recycle and reuse-ist if that makes sense. Like the upper class probably doesn't care as much cause they can always buy a new thing and the lower class buys what they can get more bang for their buck, but the middle class now understands it's consumer power and can shift larger companies if that makes sense. Thanks for the reflective vid!

Middle class is my siblings experiences, upper middle class was mine since my parents were at their highest income brackets when I grew up.

AWESOME VIDEO JJ

this is so fascinating to me! i love sociology, and i studied it in school. i definitely grew up poor and became lower-middle class. big houses with more than 3 bedrooms still seem high-end to me, and i never felt the pressure of consumer culture. i did go to college, but my single mom wasn't able to pay my tuition (thankfully grants and scholarships covered that). each class has specific mannerisms. lower class people often ask who you know, to find a connection to you. middle class people ask what you do, as in your job or study. those are just examples, but from what i've learned, i have a mix of both. what you describe as middle class sounds like upper middle to me! but i find i connect best with lower middle class folks, so i'm in a bubble of my own. to add more complexity to it, i'm in a very weird place as an adult. i'm on disability, which in BC does not cover the high cost of living here (costs you're familiar with, heh). but, i live with my middle class mother who has a secure job as a nurse. so i'm frugal in spending but i know i always have a safety net from her. so, what class am i really? it's a hypothetical question, it just fascinates me that my place in society is not quite the norm and all the nuances that come with that!

This is really good! Maybe make a video for poor and rich?

When I was growing up, in school students thought I was rich and my brother was poor. And we never knew why until I sat and analysed all my memories and realised that I really just had a whole lot of toys and stuff I would be attached to that I brought with me all the time that the other kids didn’t really have, while my brother was the opposite and not to mention he kept getting his clothes torn from playing with the other kids that my mum had to patch up all the time plus the other kids would give him money because they believed he was actually poor which didn’t make sense since we have the same parents. We’re not rich or poor, we are comfortable middle class

this was a nice video

I grew up lower-middle class. This I could tell from a young age because we could barely afford to visit relatives just a province over once a year, and going on a trip abroad was out of the question. A quality dinner at home was shake-and-bake chicken with rice and veggies. Usually, we had Kraft Dinner with weiners and veggies, or Chunky soup, or fast food. Going out to a restaurant was rare. My parents could barely afford my school fees or my clarinet rental for band class, and going on a school trip to New York was a pipe dream. They did their best to get me into an Arts school for junior high and high school though, and I'm grateful for that. I did participate in a Sunshine Generation dance group for kids, for a few years, but there was no money for other extracurricular activities like piano lessons or sports activities (not that I was an athletic kid or into sports anyhow). We never went to concerts or shows. I was an only child so I didn't wear hand-me-downs, but we almost never shopped for clothes or household goods at places other than K-Mart or Zellers, and my nice dresses came from Grandma who made them for me. I was always the last kid I knew at school to have whatever the latest technology was. I didn't know what Upper-Middle Class was until I went to other kids' homes and saw how big and clean they were, and how they had a minimum of two living rooms, at least two bathrooms, and two or three-car garages. My parents only had two cars for a few years out of many, and that's because one of them was inherited from my Grandparents when they passed. My parents did own a home in a small town when I was very little and seemed set for a middle-class life like their parents', but they couldn't stand the small-town cliquey culture, so they the sold their house at a loss and moved back to the capital city, Edmonton. We lived in rental properties ever afterwards. Dad remained in his Corrections Officer job until retirement, and Mom was a homemaker and then a perpetual student, moving from Psychology to Theology to Art Therapy. My parents, despite their forebears being fiscally smart, never learned how to save, how to invest, how to budget, or how to stay out of debt (although my Dad did keep a running total of expenses in his chequebook).

my least favorite thing within the middle class is the constant infighting within the subdivisions. i grew up in basically the exact middle of the middle class, in a very average american family. what i don't appreciate is that lower middle class people attacking me for being just slightly better off than them, yet just like them my family couldn't afford luxuries except for the occasional vacation, or nice dinner, etc. and lived paycheck to paycheck

Great video! I grew up in an comfortable to upper middle class household. However- growing up in the Deep South ( Montgomery, Alabama) the middle class bubble really doesn’t exist as in other regions. I had friends growing up in most of all the social tiers. I guess that this why I have middle class guilt. ha. I am very grateful of my upbringing but at the same time I feel I have to adjust my Habits and mannerisms to be more relatable to greater range of social classes.

I come from poor and lower middle class, now that I live closer to upper middle class I notice a lot of people question my behavior when I only really think in terms of utility

I love your stuff my guy

As someone from the U.S I agree the middle class is one of the greatest things to ever happen. I am from lower middle class and I agree there are a lot of issues with it but we are privileged. When I go to my parent's homecountry of Cuba with the income we earn in the U.S we are practically Elites over there. To me this just further tells me to be thankful for what I have since despite it not being perfect, there are others who are worst off. I never had that middle class anxiety over what others thought of us, my parents both coming from poor backgrounds don't care what others think of them or us, as long ss we are happy the world shouldn't care to us.

My second favourite Canadian J.J.! 🇨🇦❤️ First is me of course ;) haha 😁

This was a very brilliant video

I’m very lucky to have a single mom you drag us from poverty to low middle class

0:13”But what is middle Class” Me:Me

Saturday morning=JJ

jj, i truly absolutely adore this video. keep it up

This video is emblematic of why your channel is so good. You take your perspective and amplify it in a wonderfully self-aware monologue to the audience. Offering a simultaneously critical, informative, and relatable experience that is vital. It's just so sad that this medium-and all social media-limits your content to only the people that generally already agree with your points.

I grew up on the border of the lower and lower middle class. We always had enough but that sometimes involved me eating every day at the Youth Center. Anyway, I went to college using grants and scholarships and now have a decent middle class job. I have not really embraced the consumerist nature of the middle class. Owning physical items have never been a great joy for me. The one thing I have embraced is going to sporting events. It's something I always wanted to do as a kid and now that I have the means I do it a lot. I go to 25 or so baseball games a year, all my alma mater's football games, 10 or so of my alma mater's basketball game, an NFL game a year, and some other random games. I have not really embraced the idea of owning a lot of fancy things (outside or work clothes, my closet probably cost about $200, there are college style posters on my walls, ect...).

Why are your videos so good?

Another great video JJ