The Wall Street Journal just did a super article on this. There’s now a culture gap between upper and lower classes, starting really in the 1960s. If you’re upper middle class or higher, you are college educated, you marry college educated, only 5% have kids out of wedlock, 80%+ of men work and live in neighborhoods of the same. If you’re lower class, you have a high school degree but rarely trade school, only 15-20% married, 70-90% illegitimate births (from sometimes marrying after 2-3 kids), men far less likely to be in the workforce.
Here’s the article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577170733817181646.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_RIGHTTopCarousel_1
The best thing that the new upper class can do to provide that reinforcement is to drop its condescending “nonjudgmentalism.” Married, educated people who work hard and conscientiously raise their kids shouldn’t hesitate to voice their disapproval of those who defy these norms. When it comes to marriage and the work ethic, the new upper class must start preaching what it practices.