The phenomenon of class is expressed in subtle ways. I have an acquaintance who comes from the educated bourgeoisie, having grown up with humanist values of a liberal nature. Class makes him uncomfortable because he finds structural unfairness morally offensive. This doesn’t prevent him from having a Filipino cleaning woman that he pays under the table and gives the family’s cast-off designer clothing to without seeing anything derogatory in the gesture. He makes an odd point of saying that the cleaning woman doesn’t understand what fine, expensive clothing she’s been given. This acquaintance criticises me for not being “nice enough to service employees.” I think he pampers service employees.

For me, being a service employee is a normal occupation. That’s what people around me were when I was growing up and what was expected of them after school. But because my acquaintance clearly looks down on service employees, he has to be really...