Elevated class leads to a desperate desire for differentiation from others

From Choice as an Act of Meaning: The Case of Social Class by Nicole M. Stephens, Hazel Rose Markus, and Sarah S M Townsend.  From the Abstract:

Social class is one important source of models of agency-normative guidelines for how to be a "good" person. Using choice as a prototypically agentic action, 5 studies test the hypotheses that models of agency prevalent in working-class (WK) contexts reflect a normative preference for similarity to others, whereas models prevalent in middle-class (MD) contexts reflect a preference for difference from others. Focusing on participants' choices, Studies 1 and 2 showed that participants from WK relative to MD contexts more often chose pens that appeared similar to, rather than different from, other pens in the choice set, and more often chose the same images as another participant. Examining participants' responses to others' choices, Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that participants from WK relative to MD contexts liked their chosen pens more when a confederate chose similarly and responded more positively when a friend chose the same car in a hypothetical scenario. Finally, Study 5 found that car advertisements targeting WK rather than MD consumers more often emphasized connection to, rather than differentiation from, others, suggesting that models of agency are reflected in pervasive cultural products.

Academia always abstracts away the juicy bits.   Rob Henderson hones in on the magnitude of the difference in class perspective.  

Firefighters and MBA students were asked how they'd feel if they bought a new car, showed their friend, and next day the friend buys the same kind of car

% who report they'd feel:

Upset 

Firefighters: 3%

MBAs: 47%

Betrayed

Firefighters: 13%

MBAs: 47%

This gap in social norms might explain the obsession with the idea that the nation is polarized when most the nation rocks along reasonably happily enjoying their neighbors and members of their community without regard to race, religion, partisan position, etc.  Polarization if is an issue for the 20% of elevated class obsessed with relative status, not for the 80% who are focused on the safety and well-being of their families and friends. 

It might also shed some light on the 20% obsession with diversity and inclusion.  They are blind to the class lens and fail to recognize that they are overwhelmingly exclusive of those not of their class and obsessed with establishing differences.  The 80% are focused on real world issues of security and prosperity and default to inclusion based on behaviors.  If you share the same values, color and religion and class don't matter.