Yeah, Plei, you need to write that essay on class. Mely's had a few entries about it, and I have sort of thought about it (although more in the context of the social geography of the show), but someone really needs to do a dense evaluation of what the show is saying.
I do. Which, oh hardship, will require some rewatching. I was recently reading an essay, written by a lesbian from a working class family who got out, got the education that her family (her mother in particular) hadn't, in large part due to sacrifices in her mother's part. It was painful to read, in many ways, because as much as they loved each other, the differences in tastes, behaviors, and expectations that came with the daughter's move into the middle class world strained their relationship and communication in ways that I recognize (from my life, and my family's life), and in ways that I see in some of the interaction between Sam and Dean.
And it's something that I see Sam and Dean as both being very conscious of, even if they don't articulate it.
What interests me most is that it's not presented in terms of one value set/level of education/class being better or worse, but rather as what it is, which is just another one of those things that's a tension within families.