"and When I've Worked for Two Years, I Will be a Bit Higher up" - Discrepant Self-Classifications through the Lens of Subjective Interpretations of Inequality, Social Mobility Expactations and Experiences.

Our study investigates the relationship between subjective interpretations of social inequality and experiences of social mobility, focusing on individuals in Germany who identify as middle class despite objectively belonging to either the upper or lower socioeconomic classes. This phenomenon of discrepant self-classifications is well-documented, yet the specific arguments individuals use to justify these classifications remain underexplored. Using qualitative interview data from a longitudinal study, we analyze three key questions:

1. How do individuals from the upper and lower margins reconcile their perceptions of inequality with their self-positioning as middle class?
2. How do expectations and experiences of social mobility shape perceptions of social position?
3. How do these self-classifications evolve over time, enhancing our understanding of the dynamics between subjective interpretations of inequality and social mobility?

We conducted qualitative interviews with respondents from various social backgrounds as part of a large-scale longitudinal study in Germany. Our analysis draws on 90 biographical interviews (first wave) and approximately 90 problem-centered group interviews (second wave), focusing on responses to graphic elicitation techniques that capture participants' subjective class affiliations in a semi-standardized manner, which we then compare to their objective social positions. Additionally, we examine respondents' biographical trajectories of upward and downward mobility across different societal systems (former GDR/East Germany and the Federal Republic/West Germany). Our findings indicate that discrepant middle-class self-classifications are essential to identity work, employing various strategies of stigma management. This suggests individuals cope with both “shameful poverty” and “shameful wealth.” Furthermore, counterfactual self-classifications into the middle class can serve as mechanisms for maintaining or restoring agency when objective positions diverge from subjective feelings of belonging.