Deskilled Leisure

How urban climbers lose the ability to enjoy themselves.

Deskilled Leisure

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"People who graduated fin the late 1990s thought of themselves as proto-managers. If they didn't do well, the onus was on them.

Second Degree

Second Degree
Candid Utopia

Candid Utopia

On the national holiday America doesn’t celebrate.

Join 140K+ semi-rich, totally exhausted readers (great at their jobs, better at a dinner parties) AND get paid for your opinions.

Jackass Overlords

Jackass Overlords

Want to know how a leader sees society? Ask about voting rights.

Jürgen's Motivation

Jürgen's Motivation

How a German philosopher predicted foodies, wellness culture, and your next trip to Mexico City.

Price Discoveries

Price Discoveries

Why auctions feels better.

Status

By examining how social position is performed through purchases, gestures, and ease, Upper Middle decodes the encrypted hierarchies running through taste, work, and home.


Anti-Suspicious Minds

Anti-Suspicious Minds

Conspirators surround us. We still don't believe in conspiracies.

Mathemagical Chairs

Mathemagical Chairs

How to solve the inevitable seating problem when you (finally) have your first spring get-together.

Jürgen's Motivation

Jürgen's Motivation

How a German philosopher predicted foodies, wellness culture, and your next trip to Mexico City.

Harem Pants

Harem Pants

What actually sets the Epstein Class apart.

Wink at Cops

Wink at Cops

Compliance isn’t virtue.

Are You Not Entertained?

Are You Not Entertained?

We could be doing more.

Thought Leadership
(from actual thinkers)

Taste

By examining how taste is absorbed and reinforced, Upper Middle highlights the connection between aesthetic preferences and personal experience.


Fake People

Fake People

A.I. influencers are creepy. What if they're also smart and sincere?

Edgeworking Class

Edgeworking Class

Never kink-shame the head of HR.

Cinnabar Flies

Cinnabar Flies

The flacks pushing Devil Wears Prada 2 didn’t really get the first one.

Lustful Yearnings

Lustful Yearnings

We're not really monogamists. We're romantic institutionalists.

Looking Stupid

Looking Stupid

It’s something we do. Let's be proud of it.

Plan-Do Attitude

Plan-Do Attitude

Financially speaking, we've got systems not convictions.

chart-line-up
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Money

By examining how money quietly recalibrates what counts as enough, Upper Middle measures the distance to the moving targets that keep professional life feeling precarious.


Milken It

Milken It

The destablizing math (and language) of hereditary elitism.

Self-Picking Scabs

Self-Picking Scabs

Traitorous members of the professional class are derailing a negotiation.

Curvaceous Utility

Curvaceous Utility

What we talk about when we talk about a dollar.

Making Partner(s)

Making Partner(s)

Why trad-ness is an emergent property of high-income partnerships.

Middling Fictions

Middling Fictions

What the press gets wrong about economic hardship.

Rainbow Roadies

Rainbow Roadies

We’re all playing the game. Shouldn’t it be fun?

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