Alone wrote a series of three blog posts in 2012 ostensibly about hipsters on food stamps. It's an interesting analysis about downward social mobility and the defense mechanisms against the resulting anxiety.

I think it's relevant to middle class angst and a precursor to the Premium Mediocre concept. What could be more premium mediocre than buying fancy food on food stamps?

http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2012/11/hipsters_on_food_stam...

A couple reference points, among many, could be the 1968 film "The Swimmer" or the 1999 film "American Beauty". It's probably best expressed through fiction: reading factual descriptions may prove useless.

It's an American thing to idolize the middle class, and it's a human thing to be deeply discontented with what you have idolized, so really you have a lot of choices in the genre.

Try Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road (1961).

It reads almost like it could have been written today. Definitely deserves to be more popular.

infinite jest by david foster wallace - the author is himself the embodiment of middle/upper class existential angst and it seeps into all of his work

will also second revolutionary road by yates, and the swimmer by cheever, although they are a bit dated at this point