27. "RE: it's not that simple and has nothing to do with the type of work" In response to In response to 24
The social capital piece of this is huge-education and values.
Lots of academics make no money at all but feel at home in upper middle class settings discussing the latest article in the New Yorker.
The same is true of plumbers (one example) making well over six figures who rep working class for all of their lives.
It's education and then a bunch of cultural markers that combine determine one's social class...
Where you live, what you eat, where you eat (see the great Okayplayer Red Lobster debates), what read or don't, what you watch (also see the Okayplayer Tyler Perry debates), what you listen to, where you shop, etc. etc.