> I cut them because they stopped growing after or during highschool. When I talk about politics or society I don't want to feel constrained. I don't want to have to explain things like the catch up effect. I don't want come over with an expensive scotch and have people mix it with Coca Cola.
What you care about is class, not wealth. It's a learned set of knowledge, behaviors, and taste that's very hard to fake or change past childhood. Wealth matters mostly not for its own sake but because keeping up with some class behaviors takes money (or a patron). See also: the trope of the impoverished noble houseguest. Caring more about class than wealth is normal. Mistaking one for the other is itself a class marker.
Sure. A lack of grace when navigating class differences (=differences in behavior and preferences) could also be seen as a class marker, among other things. Feels rather "middle" under Fussell's rankings of class, but then that's where he put most boorish behavior (maybe for a good reason) and his treatment was too broad to allow for much nuance or coverage of sub-classes, tending to treat the latter as mostly people whose wealth didn't match their socialized class (again, maybe for good reason). Though maybe this whole thing was just your average, everyday "growing apart" with a bit more self-awareness and honesty about the causes than is typical. Maybe the parting from friendship was handled tactfully. Difficult to judge someone just from a post on a web forum.
What you care about is class, not wealth. It's a learned set of knowledge, behaviors, and taste that's very hard to fake or change past childhood. Wealth matters mostly not for its own sake but because keeping up with some class behaviors takes money (or a patron). See also: the trope of the impoverished noble houseguest. Caring more about class than wealth is normal. Mistaking one for the other is itself a class marker.