From a discussion at Lenin’s Tomb about why so many people who were so right-on when they were young become rightwing when reaching middle age, this comment by ant:
Psychologically speaking, i think that the phenomenon of the young middle class student radical who soons “outgrows” his early Leftism once his career becomes settled, can be explained in terms of the narcissism to which you rightly allude.
While “working class” proletarians know throughout their lives that they are just one of many workers, many “middle class” proletarians tend to remain in denial of this fact.
Thus the young student radical, on entering the world of work – say, in middle management or whatever – does not conclude that he is one of the working class and there is still a long way to go until the Revolution. Rather, he concludes – wrongly – that since the Revolution (with himself, of course, playing a key role) has not yet happened, then Marxism must be false.
Rather than saying to himself, “i am just another worker who must sell his labour power to a capitalist in order to survive”, he reasons to himself in the following way:
“i would never work for a capitalist (because i – unlike all those other people – am talented enough to be able to have the choice); therefore how do i explain the fact that i am clearly now having to look for work?; it must be because all that Marxism stuff was false, and hence entering this employment position is not entering into wage-slavery, but rather – as a talented and dynamic young person with highly sought-after skills – simply entering into free contract with another party.”
Hence while “working class” proletarians tend to see jobs as jobs, and themselves as workers, “middle class” proletarians tend to see jobs as careers.