This was based on a question that my economics professor in college had asked us. His question was more to the effect of “What’s a good/service people buy when they have a bit of money, then they stop buying or buy less of it when they get some more money, and then they start buying it again once they have even more money?” — feel free to answer that too.

My first thought was alcohol: lower class people might buy more of it to cope with their difficult situation, whereas upper class people have more money to spend on vices and luxuries such as alcohol. Not sure if this theory holds true.

The best answer I’ve been able to come up with is golf carts, at least in the US. It’s common to see lower class people drive golf carts around their trailer parks or neighborhoods, whereas middle class people rarely do that. An upper class person might live in a wealthy neighborhood with its own built-in golf course, or the person might even own their own golf course(s).

Some dubious investments, such as crypto or donations to certain social organizations or politicians might also qualify?

  • Eyedust@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    41 minutes ago

    Disney Plus, Netflix, Hulu, Cable TV, etc.

    The lower class usually get up for their hardworking but ill-paid jobs. The one thing they want to do is go home and turn on the TV and just have their one streaming service work when they’ve been busting ass all day.

    The upper class doesn’t really care what the price is, they just have every service stream what they want.

    The middle class makes just little enough to not warrant paying that much for a shit streaming service so that they can save up for x hobby, so they’ll pirate all day.

    • MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works
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      20 hours ago

      This made me laugh, it’s so true! Apart from chickens though - I know a few middle class people with chickens.

  • SybilVane@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    This is less of a specific good and more of a trend, but middle class people are more likely to buy bulk goods. Lower classes often don’t have the means to do so (space to store it and money to buy it, or access to places that sell in bulk) and higher classes simply don’t need to, or they buy luxury items that wouldn’t be sold in bulk.

    Similarly, middle class people are less likely to shop at places with high markups, such as convenience stores.

    The times when people shop would also see trends, with lower and higher classes doing more shopping midday on a Tuesday and middle class working people with average 9-5 office jobs being unable to do so.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Maybe car leases?

    • lower income can’t afford to purchase and a lease is a lower payment
    • wealthy either want to replace cars more often or use a car leases by a business

    If middle income fall into that trap, it’s probably on the way to lower income?

  • BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    Horse. You well off, Dad’s got a bit of land? Then you can have a horse. Nine of yous, living in a caravan with your Mum? Then you can have a horse. Grow up in a semi-detached? No horse for you!

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    It’s common to see lower class people drive golf carts around their trailer parks or neighborhoods

    I thought this was regional. I’ve seen it in Florida but not where I live, not that I’ve ever been to a trailer park

    • pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip
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      24 hours ago

      Good one!

      I routinely use terms like “classic” to describe my cars. It amuses me, and is mostly harmless.

      But, on occasion, this has disappointed a friend who I gave a ride to, who did not realize the term was meant as humor.

      (Though technically correct, I guess? My car is old, if not nice.)

      • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
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        15 hours ago

        A friend’s parents are classic car buffs so they got him a cheap Trabant (car from former east Germany) for his birthday. It was awesome. I mean, the car itself sucked ass, it had trouble going uphill and it was made of cardboard. But it was still kinda cool.

        When it died around graduation the class sawed it in half and buried it in the school’s garden so that it looked like it was driving out of the ground. It was part of that year’s graduation stunt.

  • person420@lemmynsfw.com
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    1 day ago

    I live in a decidedly middle class area and people driving golf carts around is super common. Some communities even have their own golf cart paths to the local grocery stores, and those stores have dedicated gold cart parking.

    It’s very common at least in the US south east.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
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      I think golf carts are more a regional thing where the weather is good enough most the year and there are destinations in reasonable range. Driving 5 miles to Costco in freezing weather isn’t really a golf cart activity.

  • Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Gambling

    Transportation services

    RVs

    Recreational drugs

    Horses and related services

    This is fun, but I’ll end this with the obligatory: There are two main classes, the ownership class and the working class. The lower and middle classes are subsets of the working class.

      • Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I like that one. I used to jokingly tell people I drove a classic car. It was technically correct, but no one was impressed by my rusted out, 1980s, economy sedan or its 115 horses.

        • Taleya@aussie.zone
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          22 hours ago

          We finally got a family car when i was 16 - a 1978 corolla station wagon.

          In the 90’s.

        • AA5B@lemmy.world
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          Here I am wondering how old i can get away with and still be safe and reliable for my teens to drive

          • Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world
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            I don’t think a 2025 Armored Personnel Carrier is capable of keeping a teen driver safe. Having said that, I think the best we can do is front and side airbags, crumple zones, a low center of gravity (sorry Jeep), and Electronic Stability Control (ESC). If I had to put a year on that, I’d say 2012, when the NHTSA required all new vehicles to have ESC. A roll cage wouldn’t hurt, if that’s an option. Bonus points if you can convince them to wear a racing helmet and Leatt neck brace while driving.

    • throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      Lmfao

      Gambling

      [Poor People] Delusion of winning big VS [Rich People] Just enjoying spending their time throwing money away because they have endless supply of money

      Transportation services

      [Poor People] Having to ride a Bus because you can’t afford a car VS [Rich People] Personal Driver driving you everywhete

        • throwawayacc0430@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Oh I guess because a text-only forum loses the real life expressions.

          Its more like: “Bruh 💀” - Like it’s funny, but in a fucked up dystopian context, ya know what I mean?

          • Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            I don’t have any data to support it, but I’d speculate that the middle class uses a lot less illicit drugs, lacking the desperation of the poor or the protections of the wealthy.

              • AA5B@lemmy.world
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                1 day ago

                Maybe but I wonder that too. Now that Marijuana is legit most places, that’s a vice for the middle class. They can’t risk illegal when there’s a legal option and can’t afford some of the workarounds that wealthy can

    • IronKrill@lemmy.ca
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      19 hours ago

      I feel like recreational biking or mountain biking is a very middle class thing to do tbh.

    • RBWells@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      We are part of the dwindling middle class & I ride an electric bike to work. So much cheaper than a car but so expensive for a bike, it seems a middle class thing. Though maybe living close to work is in itself an upper class thing?

      Our city does a semiannual ebike voucher raffle thing with a large number of large vouchers (would cover the cost) for verified low income, plus a smaller number of smaller vouchers (still would be a big discount) for non income verified.

    • Nastybutler@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I’d change that to “illegal drugs” as lower class can’t usually afford cocaine that’s not cut with fentanyl, but instead buy weed, shrooms, acid, meth, and other cheap drugs. Rich people, in addition to cocaine also have access to more of the designer drugs like MDMA, not to mention prescription drugs with a high street value that poor folks can’t afford unless they’re addicted to something like painkillers, but then they’ll usually have to go the cheaper route of fentanyl

      • protist@mander.xyz
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        2 days ago

        Crack cocaine use is pervasive among the lowest income folks in my area, as are meth and K2. And those people sure as hell aren’t doing mushrooms or acid. My point is that cocaine use definitely has a bimodal distribution

          • protist@mander.xyz
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            1 day ago

            I think crack users don’t bother with hallucinogens because they’re looking for high impact dopamine hits, not a lengthy psychedelic experience. I don’t think vice versa is true, people who use psychedelics aren’t necessarily avoiding cocaine, but they’re probably using higher quality cocaine rather than crack

        • RBWells@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Meth makes sense, it’s cheap as fuck to produce. Cocaine? I thought that was so expensive nobody could support a habit unless you had essentially unlimited money.

          • protist@mander.xyz
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            1 day ago

            Crack cocaine has always been a poor man’s drug. It’s highly adulterated and thus much cheaper

          • solarvector@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 days ago

            It’s more that clean is hard to find / expensive, and that you can fairly safely build up a tolerance and then burn/snort through a fuckton.

            I’m pretty sure all you really need is a plant and some gasoline for distilling or whatever it’s called.

  • SpicyAnt@mander.xyz
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    2 days ago

    Chlorine for water treatment. Cheap and useful where clean water is difficult to come by and where water is stored for long term use. Also very common to buy if you have a pool. But maybe for middle class households it is not as common of an item - except perhaps in areas were pools are common enough in middle-class homes.

    Just a guess!