Have you ever been judged based on your job title? I have, the last time only a couple of days ago and I am still surprised how fast people place you in a certain category based on your job and treat you accordingly.
Society has always divided people in rich and poor based on their income. Only in recent history, what we now call the middle class, started to develop. Although this is the predominant category of people, within this vast group, there are myriad other layers which divide it in its turn. Is a lawyer the same as an manual laborer working in a factory? The answer is definitely no. Although they are members of the middle class as none of them is neither a billionaire, nor a beggar, one of them is in the upper layer of his class while the other lies at its very bottom.
Furthermore, when someone tells you he or she is a lawyer, you automatically start attributing certain stereotypes to this person: he or she should be educated, ambitious, up-to-date with the legislation and maybe at least a little bit materialistic.
On the other hand, you wouldn't probably judge the laborer by the same criteria. Most probably, you would imagine that, in this case, you are dealing with a simple person who doesn't have a degree in anything, or a vast life or work experience and who is only capable of earning a living by performing repetitive manual tasks.
More or less, this is the same type of judgement institutions or authorities use when dealing with people. First, they ask for your name, then, your profession and based on that they automatically decide how they will treat you. However, today's opportunities and work market flexibility have changed at least a little bit the way people make a living and their ability to earn a certain income.
This should also require a shift in perspective as we should be more open-minded when judging people based on their job. For example, 10-15 years ago, working as a clerk in a bank or an engineer was regarded as a great opportunity. These people used to make a lot of money and be treated with respect. Nowadays, while many of them still earn a nice income, this is no longer something they get by default. With so many banks and industries striving for success, their employees also have to struggle to reach the top.
On the other hand someone who works as a sales agent or even in a customer support team at a corporation and needs no particular knowledge, just the will to learn, can earn more than an engineer or a bank clerk.
On a similar note, there are many freelancers and independent professional who get a better income by working on their own rather than being part of a single company. Nonetheless, this type of life is still considered unstable as, at least in my country, people think that the only way to secure your living is by being employed by a large company.
I can tell you from my personal experience, working both as a corporate robot and as a freelancer, that I have more freedom and also more money now that I am doing the latter.
Despite of this, a couple of days ago when I talked to a bank credit agent asking if I could get a mortgage, her answer was prompt and definite: we are not able to lend any money to freelancers, not even those that work 100% legally and pay their taxes. We only offer money to people who are regularly employed.
Her answer not only made me sad, but also frustrated. If I can guarantee that I can pay the installments of my credit I don't understand why it is so important to show that I am part of a company. I guess I will not be able to understand this for a while because it will take some time before freelancers and independent professionals can also be considered reliable people and before the job-stereotypes which sometimes make doors close in our face can be changed.
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