Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class

Something as simple as access can cause a massive increase in substance abuse.

People are inclined to positively evaluate those who have suffered.20 Plainly, if people think you are a victim, they will be more likely to excuse your detestable behaviors.

Ever since I left home, I’d been focused on trying to escape my past. I’d strived to be independent so that I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone. But now, what mattered most to me was to become someone who could be relied upon.

Later, confirming my hunch that she was an eccentric woman, Mrs. Martínez bought a parrot, which she named Carlos but insisted I refer to as Mr. Carlos. Sometimes I would purposely call him Carlos just to upset Mrs. Martínez. I was scared of this bird but still had to feed him. And as long as I did my chores, Mrs. Martínez didn’t seem to care if I

for every male foster kid like me who obtains a college degree, twenty are locked up.

In fact, research has revealed that sociometric status (respect and admiration from peers) is more important for well-being than socioeconomic status.

Successful people tell the world they got lucky but then tell their loved ones about the importance of hard work and sacrifice. Critics of successful people tell the world those successful people got lucky and then tell their loved ones about the importance of hard work and sacrifice.

twentieth-century French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu stated that a “triadic structure” of schooling, language, and taste was necessary to be accepted among the upper class. Bourdieu described the mastery of this triad as “ease.” When you grow up in a social class, you come to embody it.

This is perhaps why a 2019 survey found that less than half of Americans without a college degree want to legalize drugs, but more than 60 percent of Americans with a bachelor’s degree or higher are in favor of drug legalization.14 Drugs are frequently considered a recreational pastime for the rich, but for the poor they are often a gateway to furt

Furthermore, it is harder for wealthy people to claim the mantle of victimhood, which, among the affluent, is often a key ingredient to be seen as a righteous person.