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Changing Social Classes
Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 3:34 pm
by Kafkaesquire
Has anyone grown up from a lower/middle class background, went to law school, and had their professional growth put strain on their old family relationships (for whatever reason)?
I know it's a pointless personal question, but I would enjoy it if people could humor me with pertinent anecdotes.
It's a Friday, guys. Don't take things too seriously

Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:06 pm
by fallingup
Gross
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2013 4:22 pm
by francesfarmer
Yeah my whole family resents me for going to Ivy League school
I'm not joking.
ETA: They were dicks to begin with though so idk
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 12:52 am
by holdencaulfield
Yes. Some people will resent your success; that's just life.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:01 am
by stillwater
i bet you dont even know how to sail
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:14 am
by TheThriller
Kafkaesquire wrote:Has anyone grown up from a lower/middle class background, went to law school, and had their professional growth put strain on their old family relationships (for whatever reason)?
I know it's a pointless personal question, but I would enjoy it if people could humor me with pertinent anecdotes.
It's a Friday, guys.
Don't take things too seriously 
yea, I can't think of anything less serious than discussing each others family's socio-economic circumstances and the often painful dissolution of life-time bonds with people who love/loved you.
It's a Friday, bros.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:16 am
by Tom Joad
Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of my life-long friends think I am a sell out.
I guess that is just how it is.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:20 am
by KD35
Tom Joad wrote:Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of my life-long friends think I am a sell out.
I guess that is just how it is.
Are your friends ecoterrorists and do you work for "The Man?"
But seriously, if people seem to abandon you and you feel like you have done nothing wrong, then there is nothing in the long run that you should feel guilty about. People should be happy for your success, even more so if you've overcome significant difficulties in life.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 1:22 am
by rinkrat19
If you are not an asshole about having money and your friends still have a problem with it, they are the assholes and you should get new friends. Not necessarily new richer friends, just friends who aren't assholes.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 2:14 am
by cinephile
Family should, ideally, be forever. Is there something that suggests that your family will resent you for what you plan on doing?
I mean, all parents have certain expectations for their kids and naturally can be disappointed when they expectations are thwarted. But hopefully they accept you for who you are.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 2:36 am
by scifiguy
I really think a great question related to this would be, "How do you handle success?"
In fact, I'm going to start a thread topic on it.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 4:51 am
by Ded Precedent
I don't know why but I always feel uber self-conscious talking about law school and my job to my old friends who never left my hometown. I sense resentment but I don't even do anything fancy, I'm not going to make a ton of money when I graduate and I didn't even attend a prestigious school. I wish they realized I'm still the same guy they went to high school with but I think they have some strange perception that I've accomplished something important.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:24 am
by Balthy
TheThriller wrote:Kafkaesquire wrote:Has anyone grown up from a lower/middle class background, went to law school, and had their professional growth put strain on their old family relationships (for whatever reason)?
I know it's a pointless personal question, but I would enjoy it if people could humor me with pertinent anecdotes.
It's a Friday, guys.
Don't take things too seriously 
yea, I can't think of anything less serious than discussing each others family's socio-economic circumstances and the often painful dissolution of life-time bonds with people who love/loved you.
It's a Friday, bros.
The principle of charity just doesn't exist on the internet. OP is saying not to take TLS forum-creating etiquette too seriously, not that you shouldn't take your family's socio-economic circumstances seriously.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:27 am
by Balthy
I'm in the inverse situation: going to a good law school and pursuing a traditional legal career may seal my fate as less rich than much of my family. First world problems bro.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 9:51 am
by Cobretti
scifiguy wrote:I really think a great question related to this would be, "How do you handle success?"
In fact, I'm going to start a thread topic on it.
Stop making threads
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:43 pm
by apollo2015
Kafkaesquire wrote:Has anyone grown up from a lower/middle class background, went to law school, and had their professional growth put strain on their old family relationships (for whatever reason)?
I know it's a pointless personal question, but I would enjoy it if people could humor me with pertinent anecdotes.
I feel as if the bigger difference to me so far was in undergrad when I (1.) went to a university that was (2.) out of town. The cultural capital that I picked up from interacting with so many upper middle class people has made it hard to interact with my family and its lower/middle class values.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:49 pm
by Br3v
Cobretti wrote:scifiguy wrote:I really think a great question related to this would be, "How do you handle success?"
In fact, I'm going to start a thread topic on it.
Stop making threads
Thatsthejoke.jpg
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:52 pm
by Kikero
superdingle2000 wrote:I'm in the inverse situation: going to a good law school and pursuing a traditional legal career may seal my fate as less rich than much of my family. First world problems bro.
Chin up, there's always inheritance.

Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 6:01 pm
by dudders
Luckily I graduated unemployed and brokeass, so technically I'm lower class than when I started.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 11:45 pm
by cinephile
apollo2015 wrote:Kafkaesquire wrote:Has anyone grown up from a lower/middle class background, went to law school, and had their professional growth put strain on their old family relationships (for whatever reason)?
I know it's a pointless personal question, but I would enjoy it if people could humor me with pertinent anecdotes.
I feel as if the bigger difference to me so far was in undergrad when I (1.) went to a university that was (2.) out of town. The cultural capital that I picked up from interacting with so many upper middle class people has made it hard to interact with my family and its lower/middle class values.
I'm actually curious about what the difference in values would be between lower-middle and upper-middle.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:39 pm
by Kafkaesquire
The nail has already been hit on the head as far as I am concerned. So really I would admit that a lot of the tension I feel with my family has to do with my own journey being so different from their own, and being so caught up in my journey that it has become difficult to take myself out of my own shoes and put myself in the shoes in which I was born and raised (and that my family still wears).
Money, education, travel, that stuff really changes people; my family is foreign to it all, and yet all of that has basically come to define who I am.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 10:49 pm
by rad lulz
,
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 11:05 pm
by courtneylove
i get where you're coming from OP. one of my very best friends is in severe debt from undergrad/poor career prospects in her field, and talks constantly about her situation because of the strain she's under. i feel awkward discussing my issues or life situation with her; it seems so selfish for me to be whining "i didn't get the $160,000/year job i wanted wah" while she can't afford to get her own apartment or buy new clothes.

Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 11:06 pm
by guinness1547
rad lulz wrote:My family is pretty well off but I feel I'm gonna be poor
Dad wants to know why I do my banking at Amscot
Mom wants to know why I drink MD 20/20
Ah, Mad Dog chugging races. I do miss college.
Re: Changing Social Classes
Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 11:15 pm
by untar614
Br3v wrote:Cobretti wrote:scifiguy wrote:I really think a great question related to this would be, "How do you handle success?"
In fact, I'm going to start a thread topic on it.
Stop making threads
Thatsthejoke.jpg
Yeah, I took that as a self-deprecating joke. I'm glad he can find humor in the hate he gets on here.