Instead, they decide to either keep quiet about their background or warp their origin story to align with working-class experiences

From Paris Hilton to the Kardashian family, being open about how much money you had started to be seen as cheap. (Picture: Issy Gladston)

For a long time, I considered trickle-up to be a win for progression

But at the opposite end of the spectrum, there is a whole host of fairly wealthy people who are desperate to conceal that they are surrounded by money. People who are eager to convince those around them of their working-class credentials, despite the fact that their parents supplement their income and paid their deposit when they bought a property. As I found myself speaking to more and more people from middle- and upper-class backgrounds, I realised that they don’t see being poor as a rigid socioeconomic standard dictated by your income and quality of life.

Instead, to many people, being ‘poor’ exists on an imaginary spectrum that genuinely hard-up people never have the pleasure to even consider. For some of them, it means not being able to afford dinner out multiple times a week, missing out on one of their four holidays abroad, or dipping into the savings accounts their parents set up for them. Lees verder →