>These people struggle (or think that they do..) for so long in the rat race that they forget that they have risen above it and gone far beyond that.
If these are people who have "made" the money themselves in their own generation, I can see why/how they still view themselves as middle class. It's a mindset.
I have had the fortune of getting to know many SV millionaires who grew up in modesty/poverty, and still buy shorts from Target and pinch pennies madly. They have their mansions and their fancy cars, but they're still bound by the mindset of their lower/middle class background where they fought ferociously and squeezed themselves and their financial abilities to get to where they are today.
As long as that mindset persists, even very wealthy people won't consider themselves to be "upper class".
Give it one or two generations though. Their kids and grandkids will probably behave and believe that they're upper class.
If these are people who have "made" the money themselves in their own generation, I can see why/how they still view themselves as middle class. It's a mindset.
I have had the fortune of getting to know many SV millionaires who grew up in modesty/poverty, and still buy shorts from Target and pinch pennies madly. They have their mansions and their fancy cars, but they're still bound by the mindset of their lower/middle class background where they fought ferociously and squeezed themselves and their financial abilities to get to where they are today.
As long as that mindset persists, even very wealthy people won't consider themselves to be "upper class".
Give it one or two generations though. Their kids and grandkids will probably behave and believe that they're upper class.