Why Do Some Folks Call Others Elitists and Snobs For Wanting A Better Life For Themselves

We are taught to be believe that America is a purported classless society. We are further told that socioeconomic class does not matter at all as long as the quality of life is good. We are also inculcated with that love wins over all no matter what the respective person's socioeconomic class may be.

Folks, I have news for you. What you have been taught is just- a myth. In spite of what you may believe, America society has an unwritten socioeconomic class system. Yes, the American socioeconomic class system is more fluid than the European socioeconomic class system. However, there is a socioeconomic class system in American nonetheless.

We all are born into certain socioeconomic class systems whether it is upper income, middle income, or lower income. There are even subdivisions in each class system such as extreme upper income, middle upper income, upper middle income, lower middle come, and upper lower income. Oftentimes, our socioeconomic class of origin influences our cultural and educational aspirations. It even influences our lifestyle, relationship, and career choices.

Socioeconomic class is an important component in our lives. Many times, our socioeconomic class is a determinant as to what we should follow and aspire to. Our socioeconomic class group subconsciously indoctrinate us as what not to aspire to because no one else in that particular socioeconomic class does such. However, there are people who defy the sociocultural indoctrination regarding their socioeconomic class of origin and achieve great success in all areas of their lives.

Although American society applauds socioeconomic success, it subconsciously derives those who aspire to and achieve too much success. Many people portend that it is fine that one should aspire to what they want to be but be the same people they are before they achieve that success. Or if the newly successful person acquires different friends and a new lifestyle, he/she is considered to be inauthentic, a snob, and an elitist. In essence, be modestly successful and do not have the unmitigated audacity to be highly successful.

It seems that being mediocre and achieving only a certain amount of success is the name of the game in American society. We have deified the average Joe/Josephina from the inception of the American republic. We admire the homespun virtues and values of the average Joe/Josephina as he/she is so unpretentious and down to earth. He/she wants to be achieve, of course, but not too much.

God forbid if you want to achieve too much and wants more than an average lifestyle. Then you are put under the societal radar so to speak. If you want to achieve affluence and wealth, you are called greedy and materialistic as if there was something so inherently wrong with having high aspirations. You are also told that "those things should not be matter, a modest amount of success should be enough".

Yes, there are some haters and negaters of the affluent and wealthy. They portend that affluent and wealthy people want too much. They further contend that why should there be affluent and wealthy people when there are others who are not as wealthy as they are. They even have quite fantastical notions that the affluent and wealthy are really not as happy as they are as being less affluent is a component in being happy.

These same people have the outdated saying that money does not buy happiness. While they say this, their faces are actually grimacing in agony! Who are these people fooling actually or if they are in abysmal denial of their actual dismal socioeconomic situation!

Well, there are some people who want the best that life has to offer socioeconomically. They are smart and savvy enough to realize that affluence and wealth can afford them things that making only a modest living does not. Affluent and wealthy people often have better medical care, schools, eat better and more nutritious food, and living in a safer and more maintained neighborhood. Being affluent and wealthy also means that you can provide a better life for your children.

Being wealthy and affluence causes less financial stress and agony. Affluent and wealthy people do not have to worry about paying bills, where the next meal is coming from, and worry if there will be a roof over one's head. They have enough income to cover the necessities in order to having plenty of disposable income to enjoy luxuries. As a result of having more than enough monies to cover expenses, there is hardly any stress in their relationships as those with massive financial worries are bound to encounter. There are many substantiated instances of celebrities, politicians, and other successful people who came from poorer backgrounds stating that they have been in both socioeconomically modest and more affluent circumstances, adding that the latter is indefinitely better!

There are many people who have a subconscious adverse relationship to money. They decry money as an inherent but necessary evil. They contend that money is not necessarily important to lead a well balanced life. They further disparage those who want to live a socioeconomically affluent and/or wealthy life as vapid materialists with voids in their lives. They contend that if the latter have enriched personal lives, they would not so "manically" pursue socioeconomic success! They are quite content with their socioeconomically modest lifestyles.

Or are they ? These are the exact same people who incessantly complain about making ends meet and wondering how they are going to pay a certain bill this month! They are so busy paying their bills that they have nothing left over for the things that they want to do! They purport being happy with a modest income while subconsciously wishing to be better off socioeconomically. Even they "wish" for socioeconomic success, they delude themselves that they are happier and better people than those who attain a high level of socioeconomic success because they portend that inwardly, the latter are extremely deficient people who only think about achievement and nothing else.

Many people who become more affluent and socioeconomically successful acquire different friends, especially if their former friends are of a more negative mindset. When one becomes successful, besides obtaining a different lifestyle befitting his/her new status, his/her mindset also changes. His/her former friends often cannot and/or refuse to acknowledge the latter's transformation and often consider him/her to be elitist and/or a snob because he/she no longer has a commonality with the former friends.

These former friends and/or associates want him/her to be the same person but that is clearly impossible. As one experiences upward socioeconomic mobiility, he/she becomes an entirely different person with vastly different wants and desires than his/her friends who are not upwardly socioeconomically mobile. I remember a former schoolmate from the lower socioeconomic class who is now a dentist with an extremely lucrative private practice.

This former schoolmate relayed to me that she observed her dismal environment and socioeconomic situation. She wanted to better herself and realized that her friends were negative influences so she dumped her friends and started to apply herself academically. It was her intent to attend college and further. She desired to advance herself socioeconomically and she achieved this goals in addition to acquiring more positive friends.

Of course, many friends of those upwardly mobile people do not want the latter to succeed. They do not understand why the latter would want to leave them and/or the neighborhood. They evidently do not want the latter to change and to always remain the person that they have always known. They also becoming insecure in the fact that the latter is changing and becoming a different person with an entirely different outlook and prospect on life. To the former, this represents uncertainty regarding the friendship.

While some former friends are glad to see their friends progress and become more socioeconomically successful, there are others who deride such success. To the latter, the more successful friend is considered a sell out or unreal. They may even try to emotionally and psychologically sabotage the more successful friend to order to make him/her more like them. They do not want to acknowledge the fact that their friend wants to be highly successful.

It is often an undeniable and cold fact of life that as one becomes more socioeconomically successful in life, his/ her priorities change and evolve and oftentimes he/she have to find similarly minded friends. It is totally pointless for a successful person to retain friends especially if they are not as successful as he/she is. First of all, their respective mindsets towards socioeconomic success is vastly different. Besides that, their life goal aspirations and desires are also different. There are those who believe that since they are not successful that others should be the same.

There is something exhilaration to be highly successful and accomplished. When you have achieved a high level of socioeconomic success, you feel good that you are living and not just ekeing a living and surviving from day to day. You are also somebody! You are treated better and with more respect. That is a fact of life in society, the affluent and wealthier classes are treated with more deference and respect than those less affluent. Let us ponder this matter, who is more respected a doctor or a laborer, a CEO or a chambermaid? If you guess the latter, you are on target. Even though we all portend that socioeconomic status should not matter, it matters a lot! Our society often measures a person by his/her earning capacity, like it or not.

Being socioeconomically affluent and wealthy affords one the freedom financially and/or otherwise to pursue individual dreams. When one is affluent and/or wealthy, he/she usually has the monies to indulge in hobbies and to further their goals that a socioeconomically struggling people could ill afford to do. If an affluent and/or wealthy person is temporarily laid off, fired,and/or unemployed, he/she has enough monies to tide them over until another job and/or economic opportunity arrives. Contrast that to the same situation with a person who is struggling socioeconomically, he/she often has to take any job available if he/she does not want the job.

This is nothing wrong with being or aspiring to be affluent and/or wealthy. Affluence and/or wealth provides an extremely high quality of life free of struggle and worry. It also affords one more freedom to pursue the things he/she wants to do. Let us face, money is an important component in regards to a comfortable standard of living. This is a capitalist society and money is the main ingredient regarding this like it or not.

In summation, although American society purports that it is classless, such is not the case. American society is a demarcation of varied socioeconomic classes although the American socioeconomic class is more fluid than its European counterpart. Many people applaud the concept of upward socioeconomic mobility as long as it is not too excessive. In other words, a modicum amount of socioeconomic success is looked upon positively while being and/or aspiring to affluence and/or wealth is viewed as being materialistic, snobbish, and/or elitist or worse. These same people who deride money and/or wealth as an intrinsic but necessary evil actually wish that their socioeconomic status were better; however, their often negative beliefs about money attract a life of socioeconomic struggle and mere survival, instead of socioeconomically thriving!