Privilege Lost: Who Leaves the Upper Middle Class and How They Fall

by Jessi Streib

There are two narratives of the American class one of a country with boundless opportunities for upward mobility and one of a rigid class system in which the rich stay rich while the poor stay poor. Each of these narratives holds some truth, but each overlooks another. In Privilege Lost , Jessi Streib traces the lives of over 100 youth born into the upper-middle-class. Following them for over ten years as they transition from teens to young adults, Streib examines who falls from the upper-middle-class, how, and why don't they see it coming. In doing so, she reveals the patterned ways that individuals' resources and identities push them onto mobility paths--and the complicated choices youth make between staying true to themselves and staying in their class position. Engaging and eye-opening, Privilege Lost brings to life the stories of the downwardly mobile and highlights what they reveal about class, privilege, and American family life.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Social Science

192 pages, Paperback

Published April 20, 2020

Reviews

[Binit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book builds on the work of Bourdieu on class reproduction, and extends it to shed new light on how downward mobility occurs among upper middle class in the US. In so doing, the author uses the concepts of resource inheritance and reciprocal identities to show that class reproduction is not simply about being located in a particular class-specific habitus. Rather, class reproduction is shown as a complex process that depends on the extent of resources that children inherit from their parents as well as the identities that they develop in accordance with their inherited resources. Downward mobility among young people is often the result of weak resource inheritance and the adoption of identity that makes a virtue of their weak resources. However, the author emphasizes that mobility trajectories are not just determined by resource inheritance and the formation of identities. There are also cases when inherited resources and adopted identities do not match or complement each other. It should be noted that mobility trajectories are also influenced by temporal factors such as generational change and the changing dynamics of economy. By focusing on one class i.e. upper middle class, the author succeeds in demonstrating that there is a lot more variations within a class than what meets the eye. Class reproduction is therefore not a uniform process among those located in a class. Within its limitations, the book convincingly explains how class reproduction fails to happen and downward mobility ensues. This book will surely appeal to both general readers as well as those who have scholarly interest in class.

[Chris Esposo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jessi Streib has written an interesting book that focuses on an oft-ignored, but still relevant topic, the nature of the upper-middle class, and who “drops out”, specifically focused on white American households and individuals. In recent years, we’ve read about the narrative of the “forgotten American”, which is often characterized as those households/families that live in the rural interior of their respective states (or the nation more broadly), and who’s small towns have not survived or thrives much in the past 30 years as the economy has transformed and jobs have shifted away from classical manufacturing to service, IT, and now a mixture of front-end digital, IT/web, and service.

However, we don’t often hear about who is “failing” to “reproduce their class” in the nation. To be sure this phenomena has been reported on and is being talked about in the culture. The notion of “fail son” (or “fail daughter”) has become increasingly relevant, along with the broader notion that many members of the Millennial (and Zoomers) White majority or plurality has experienced “downward mobility” vis-a-vis their parents and/or their grandparents. Streib asks, who are these individuals, and can we detect who is likely to have a downward trajectory based on standard socio-demographic analysis?

The answer is negative, and this should make common sense. Demographic information is overly broad and cannot convey much from the perspective of the life trajectory of an individual. Not all X-Y-Z kind of people are the same. However, what is the differentiator? To help answer this (or provide a theoretical structure to provide an answer), Streib leverages heavily from the sociological theories of Pierre Bourdieu (whom I have no exposure to prior to reading this text). Here, Bourdieu constructs a theory via an unobserved set of goals, beliefs, strategies etc, that he labels “the Habitus” and that an individual’s mix of these elements within their habitus, will inform their identity. The habitus in some way is learned/endowed by familial/parental socialization, though not deterministically or assuredly, as it depends on the nature of tutolege or socialization the parental units deploy upon their child. If it is sufficiently “weak” (however that is defined and within a specific context), then the child will not develop an identical habitus as the parents, and the nature of class-reproduction may be in doubt for the child vis-a-vis their parents.

Leveraging these constructs, Streib can separate the nature of downward mobility (or lack of class reproduction within the upper-middle class) with the inherent superiority of resources (economic/financial/human/social capital) these families possess relative to the majority of the population that possess less of these resources on average. So it is in this context that Streib has designed her program, which is to repeatedly interview/sample a randomly selected sample of teenagers and very young adults, from their early teen years to their late 20s, and to track their life trajectories, and see whether the theories outlined by Bourdieu can be validated (or at least provide some useful context for what is being observed in the subjects).

Overall, the book was interesting, and although I felt much of the thesis outlined here could probably not ever be directly verified (since we can’t observe this habitus in any way), that’s the case with almost all social science (including ‘utility’ for economics). The way at which Streib goes about leveraging those predicates seem to make sense (at least from my naive/outsider standpoint), and they don’t require some overly abstract mechanism to be true (say the weak axiom of revealed preference!). Though, I’m still skeptical, I felt the results here added something to the idea pool for this subject (which admittedly seems dearth of content given how few write about it). It’s definitely a worthy topic, whether it can be quantitatively understood or not. Recommended.

[Carrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

From a student perspective, Privilege Lost is largely misleading and unhelpful. While Gail Shalan’s work is methodologically organized and clearly rewarded by academia, it offers very little practical insight for real students navigating school, careers, or life.

The book relies heavily on circular reasoning, defining students’ success as proof of “enough academic resources” from their parents and failure as proof of “too few resources.” This deterministic framing erases personal effort, learning differences, and luck, making it seem like students have little control over their outcomes.

Her examples are cherry-picked: rebellious teens and substance users are treated as representative of middle-upper class challenges, and creative or athletic students are labeled as disinterested in earning money or unable to succeed professionally. Families are also misclassified, with parents’ degrees often overriding actual income, stability, or opportunity.

The work is moralized and judgmental, elevating corporate/professional career paths as the only valid measure of success and casting independence, creativity, or nonconformity as risky or flawed. It ignores systemic factors like labor markets, opportunity structures, and randomness.

In short, while the book may be legible and coherent for academics, it is of very low value to students seeking real-world guidance. It tells you “what patterns exist” but not how to navigate life, succeed, or make choices, and its fatalistic tone risks discouraging agency and independent thinking.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Conflicted on the rating for this one. It was very thought provoking and the question she poses is interesting. Her attempt at answering this question is also interesting. At the end of the day the quasi academic methodology was confusing to me. My main critique would be:
1. The methodology being put at the end of the book, rather than the beginning really really bugged me. Sure this isn’t technically an academic article so there isn’t a requirement as to where it is put. But the major limitations she mentions at the end (i.e intentionally only including white interviewees) are huge and also the entire time i couldn’t get over not understanding how she was defining class. I dont know how you can put people into class boxes in such a binary way, but the definition i finally got at the end was sort of unsatisfactory and depended on college and income, which makes sense but also doesn’t fully encompass class.
2. Similarly, the summaries of the interview were phrased in a way that put the assumptions of the framework identities she lays out as if the interviewee were directly saying those things, and i just didnt care for this style. It felt a little misleading (i.e johnny did not focus on college due to his rebel identity).
I suppose i would still recommend reading this book, as the topic and subject of then study is interesting.

[Zhiyi Fang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Coming from a middle class family, I very much relate to the analysis of this book. It’s very realistic of how people born into the upper middle class have to compete to preserve their status, ie. being academically responsible as early as elementary school and sacrificing your social life to some extent. That being said, that doesn’t mean downward mobility is a bad thing, because upper middle class only accepts people with professional identities who would work diligently (almost like a slave, but a grateful one). If that’s not who you are or what you want, it’s okay to leave. Pursuing your passion with less financial stability and ultimately dropping out of the upper middle class is not shameful. At the end of the day, I guess it all comes down to if you know yourself and whether or not to carry the burden of being born into the upper middle class…
The last section of the book is very helpful especially if you are struggling between “pursuing your own dreams” or “fulfilling a professional life” decisions.

[Chris Boutté · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that really surprised me with how good and interesting it was. While I’m often very envious of those who grew up in the upper middle class, I never really thought about those who fall from it when they get older. Jessi Streib is a sociologist who interviewed upper middle class kids over the years from high school to after their college years, and she found patterns that show who succeeds to continue in the upper middle class and who falls out of it.

I’ll leave my commentary there because I don’t want to spoil it. I really hope people read this book, and I’m glad I randomly came across it.

[Ebookwormy1]

This synopsis intrigued me and landed Privilege Lost on my to-reads....
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full...

Ms Streib's work seem to be an exploration of the 15th Principle of Skousen's The 5000 Year Leap Forward: "The highest level of prosperity occurs when there is a free market economy and a minimum of government regulations," which emphasizes "freedom to try, freedom to buy, freedom to sell, freedom to fail."

The 5000 Year Leap, Skousen, 1981
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very academic but very interesting. (I listened to the audiobook version, but that edition isn't listed here on Goodreads.)

[Emma Kerr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting study! Wasn’t familiar with the NSY project, but very cool approach and dataset. Pairs well with Parenting to a Degree by Laura Hamilton.

[Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat interesting

[Allread · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in a blandly clinical but concise format, perhaps frequently copy&pasted directly from their research notes. The author saves until the end any consideration whether 'reproducing one's class status' is actually important or something one should wish to do. I'm not quite sure I agree with the theoretical framework they've chosen to use, but I'm no expert in the field. It seems, at least, a reasonable possibility.

Still if you are a teen considering the future, or a parent of one, these little vignettes might give some idea of that future you are heading towards. And, according to the book at least, you might be rather surprised at how disappointing a future it will be. It's a little hard to imagine a school career of drinking and vidya would lead anyone to expect a professional career to be the natural result, but maybe these youths never sat down and tried to follow the path clearly. In which case, I will recommend reading at least the category you identify with, and see if you are happy with those results. If not, it seems the prescription is: shore up those weaknesses, by changing your fundamental identity. Likely easier said than done.

[Colson · Rating 3 out of 5]

wahhhhhh 💰😭💰💸💸💸