Tropes covering social mobility, social classes in general, and the interactions and relationships between said classes.
Compare Rich People and Poverty Tropes for other specific types of rich and poor characters, respectively. This index is specifically about the interactions between them, as well as people who move from one social class to another.
Tropes:
- Eat the Rich: A phrase used to vilify rich people.
- Extreme Speculative Stratification: Social stratification is exaggerated in speculative fiction.
- Fantastic Caste System: Social classes are ingrained in the setting.
- Foreign Ruling Class: The upper classes are distinguished not only by their wealth and influence, but also by that they are a different culture entirely.
- Gold Digger: Someone who's in a relationship with a wealthy person for their money.
- The Help Helping Themselves: A household servant steals or otherwise uses their master's property without permission.
- Humble Parent, Spoiled Kids: A family where the parents come from humble beginnings, meaning that the children grow up with more material wealth than their parents.
- Impoverished Patrician: High in social standing, low in finances.
- Interclass Friendship: A notable friendship between people of different social classes.
- Intrafamilial Class Conflict: Class conflict between relatives.
- Just Like Robin Hood: A character steals from the rich to give to the poor.
- Kill the Poor: Someone actively tries to kill all poor people.
- Nice to the Waiter: A middle-class or rich person's personality is indicated by how they treat the help.
- Nobility Marries Money: A blue-blooded family marries off their kids to a Nouveau Riche person for the money they'll bring in.
- Noble Tongue: A language used by the upper classes.
- Not with Them for the Money: Despite seeming like a Gold Digger, someone of a lower socioeconomic standing loves their rich partner for who they are.
- Nouveau Riche: They (or their recent ancestors) made their money relatively recently, and stick out like a sore thumb for it.
- Penny Among Diamonds: The sole middle class or poor character in a cast of well-off people.
- Rags to Riches: Someone starts out poor and ends up rich.
- Rich Kid Turned Social Activist: A rich person empathizes with the struggling lower classes and acts on their behalf.
- Rich Language, Poor Language: Rich and poor characters are distinguished by their accents and/or dialects.
- Rich Sibling, Poor Sibling: One sibling has either ascended or descended into riches or poverty, while the other has done the opposite.
- Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor: A Love Triangle hallmarked by different socioeconomic statuses.
- Riches to Rags: Someone starts out rich and ends up poor.
- Scholarship Student: Someone who had to earn their way to a prestigious institution, unlike everyone else who can afford to go there.
- Social Climber: Someone of a lower social class wants to rise up in society.
- Slobs Versus Snobs: Rich people are often portrayed as snobby, while poor people are often portrayed as slobby. Relations are strained.
- Student Debt Plot: Even when you get into an educational institution, your problems aren't over.
- Token Rich Student: The sole rich student in a cast full of middle-class or poor students.
- Too Important to Remember You: A rich or upper-class person doesn't bother to remember the names of their lessers.
- Urban Segregation: Social classes are emphasized by a city's layout, with a clearly clean and developed area housing the rich people, and a poorly developed and dirty area housing the poor.
- Uptown Girl: A romance between an upper-class person and a lower-class person causes strife.
- Vicarious Gold Digger: Someone who pushes their relative to marry a richer person for money.
