ABSTRACT
Class confusion and class definition generate media profits. For entertainment purposes, those who switch or mask class are reliable sources of drama given their often self-conscious performance and the disconnect between new and original class identities, producing what Bourdieu termed a habitus clivé. For some time, reality TV producers have been exploiting class slippages and hybridities for subtragic or comic effect while conveniently evading charges of classism by jettisoning professional scripts. The majority of reality shows ultimately promote some form of upward mobility (from talent competitions to home/body improvement), but this essay will focus on pronounced class juxtapositions and misperceptions, particularly on nouveau riche docusoaps that thematize class perceptions, rituals and delusions (e.g., Real Housewives, Ladies of London). I argue that these productions mediate contemporary anxieties about the significance and identification of class, compounded now by a nouveau riche president who also exploits a weak understanding of class relations.
