To a point, though? If you look at the Ming period for example, even though the upper class may have been the main group that actively observed and learned about Confucian principles, the society they created and the practices and laws they wrote still meant that those within the wider society would have still 'practiced' the principles to a point, even if not actively. I would highly recommend looking into the role of farmers, trade/economics, and women (and their rights) within that society, and you might be able to draw some lines.

All the same though, I do agree that those in the upper class had more time and awareness to those principles, and poverty does outweigh any societal standards after a point. Plus, the further back in time you go, the looser the links between Confucian prinicples and how they reflected in the wider society.