Your aunt's opinion pisses me off, coming, as I do, from the working class.
My father was a verbally abusive alcoholic, but it certainly isn't like there are no such people in other classes. He was a very controlling person, but (for a variety of reasons that I have figured out over the years, but have no reason to go into here) far more toward my brothers than toward me. I think he had some of the "I couldn't achieve X, so I want you to do it" regarding my brothers, but that too appears in all classes.
As for seeing children as possessions in the area of expecting them to follow in the parents' footsteps, I think the middle and especially upper classes are far worse than the working class. A man who was my friend in high school, who belonged to the richest family I ever knew personally (and they had social status as well), refers to "the horrors of my upbringing." (ETA: I.e., his, not mine.)
As for physical abuse: the two worst cases I know about among people I know in person were both by men who were professionals, not working class.
Your aunt's idea is, I think, a variant on the idea that spousal abuse happens only in the "lower" classes.
no subject
My father was a verbally abusive alcoholic, but it certainly isn't like there are no such people in other classes. He was a very controlling person, but (for a variety of reasons that I have figured out over the years, but have no reason to go into here) far more toward my brothers than toward me. I think he had some of the "I couldn't achieve X, so I want you to do it" regarding my brothers, but that too appears in all classes.
As for seeing children as possessions in the area of expecting them to follow in the parents' footsteps, I think the middle and especially upper classes are far worse than the working class. A man who was my friend in high school, who belonged to the richest family I ever knew personally (and they had social status as well), refers to "the horrors of my upbringing." (ETA: I.e., his, not mine.)
As for physical abuse: the two worst cases I know about among people I know in person were both by men who were professionals, not working class.
Your aunt's idea is, I think, a variant on the idea that spousal abuse happens only in the "lower" classes.