Yep. Everyone up to the bottom rung of the 1% view themselves as "middle class." Absolutely. Culture is just one factor. Civilization has always been a pyramid. The wealthy require a strong lower class to support them. They have very intentionally built a society to create that support. Americans think they're different. That America is "by the people." American government has always been controlled by the wealthy for their purposes. Most of the founding fathers were wealthy. George Washington was the richest president ever. The American Revolution wasn't "the people" revolting against "oppression." The average person doesn't naturally care that much about taxes and "rights." The people were made to care by propaganda pamphlets written by Thomas Paine and printed and distributed by the American wealthy. It was the wealthy who were really affected by high taxation, who goaded the masses into revolution for their own ends. Today, we see the same thing in the form of corporations. Corporations are not abstract entities. They are owned by, and represent, the wealthy. When corporations are granted personhood and "rights," what is really happening is the wealthy are given extra rights. Their own natural rights, and the rights by proxy of their corporations. Poor people consider Middle Class people as rich
Society at large exploiting the impoverished persons inability to meet the requirements placed upon them.
All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.