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I am a “class bullshitter” within the American class system because I stubbornly refuse to believe that selling my labor for a high price and paying a lot of rent puts me in the same class as people who buy labor and collect rent.

I also don’t think these are identity traits of mine; rather they are contingent facts about living in a HCOL area. If I were slinging code 9-5 in e.g. Chicago then no one would doubt I was middle class.

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I would agree. In the US any class is defined by the social safety net they have and in the current workforce it's often entirely self funded with many parents/older generation reaching into the pockets of their children for labour or money. Even people living a 'middle class lifestyle' are one bump or bruise away from losing everything. Since the UK has a different expectation of a social safety net I can see how things might go in a different direction. If I was not constantly under the risk of healthcare costs blowing up what little I have built up then I probably would consider myself middle class. But since my income stops as soon as I stop and I don't have a huge runway to get going again I don't feel like I'm in the middle at all.

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