Tea at Trianon: What Does It Mean To Be Upper Middle Class?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

What Does It Mean To Be Upper Middle Class?

Don't take it for granted. From Lane Scott at Matriarchs for the Good Life:

Middle class was just all of us. Everyone thought they were middle class when I was growing up. It was a surprise to both rich people and poor people that “the middle class” technically excluded them. Some parts of the country are still like this. It’s one reason Democrats are able to pass things like “tax hikes for the rich” and “universal health care.” Most Americans think they are middle or lower middle class, i.e., the deserving poor who will of course receive subsidy, not the undeserving rich who will pay for the subsidy with tax increases.
Middle class people drove to vacation, or family gatherings at relative’s houses in lieu of vacation, woke up to piles of gifts under the tree on Christmas morning, and rented more than one or two movies at a time on weekends. Mom got her nails done. Two pieces or more of the living room furniture and/or the valences matched. Etc.
Lower middle class in my childhood meant your family went camping if you went anywhere, but you didn’t go “on vacation”. You didn’t have a lot of food in the house, your house may or may not have had a permanent foundation, your pets weren’t altered before an unfortunate inbred litter or two, and one or more of the adults in the household smoked or drank during the day. No furniture matched, as it was collected haphazardly, and half the furniture wasn’t good to sit on. (Read more.)