3: Those Snobbish “Clever” Blacks: Preconceived Notions of The Black Middle Class

This chapter reflects on our engagement with our own class status and preconceived notions of the Black middle class in the interview process in our study on the Black middle class. This chapter also engages with questions around the existence of the Black middle class and issues around the Blackness of the Black middle class, to illustrate how preconceived ideas were dealt with and how, with contact, these predetermined and at times narrow-minded notions changed. The reflections of the researchers illustrate that interviewing the Black middle class was a complex and evolving process. The chapter, in its engagement with preconceived ideas of those we study, also unpacks how the insider/outsider dynamic complicates the ways in which our preconceived ideas about our participants manifest.