To be a bit surprised that 60% of us think of ourselves as working class?

[BlancheBlue]

www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jun/29/most-brits-regard-themselves-as-working-class-survey-finds

This really. Does this this figure surprise you? I thought more people identified as middle class or I suppose it depends on company and context!

Of course class is hard to define ranging from being "a state of mind" to people basing it on income, background, how you describe meals etc etc!

[SukeyTakeItOffAgain]

People are desperate to be working class now. They think it makes them more authentic or something.

[NicknameUsed]

Because the middle classes are often sneered at?

It happens on mn a lot.

Both OH and I had working class backgrounds but it would be patronising or inverse snobbery to consider ourselves anything other than middle class now.

[Ego147]

People are desperate to be working class now

Or gets the Conservative party to think of them when it comes to their policies - which are designed to appeal to working class voters.

[PickledCauliflower]

I think the majority of the UK population are working class.
Almost everyone I know (including me) works full time and struggles to pay the bills most months.
Purchases have to be planned carefully and often cannot afford to make repairs to home / car etc.
An annual family holiday, is more every three or four years rather than annual.
That's not middle class is it?

[MaliceInWonderland78]

People are desperate to be working class now. They think it makes them more authentic or something.

I'm the real McCoy. I have the confidence to know that working class doesn't mean 'lower class' I'm proud to identify as working class, even though I have most of the trappings that the aspirational middle classes aspire to.

I have to confess (having read and participated on a similar thread -a mumsnet staple) that I'm really rather amused that people worry about this sort of crap.

[PickledCauliflower]

And perhaps it depends what part of the country you live in. Not many middle class people where I live (if any).

[BlancheBlue]

Pickled Really? None? There must be.

[SukeyTakeItOffAgain]

My comment was not a dig at the working class of course. It was an observation about people who are clearly not but who rush to say how working class that are, because they shop at Lidl. There's nothing wrong with being middle class - whatever that even means - but people act all ashamed of it.

I don't even know where I fit in - lower middle I suspect - and don't care.

[unlimiteddilutingjuice]

Why is that surprising? Most people ARE working class.

[lordStrange]

Both OH and I had working class backgrounds but it would be patronising or inverse snobbery to consider ourselves anything other than middle class now.

I find that an unusual statement. The educated and successful or professional working class friends I have still see themselves as working class.

[MaliceInWonderland78]

You cared enough to start a thread......

I suppose it's more about how we regard ourselves. The aspirational middle classes are (rightly) derided because it smacks of self-aggrandisement, or somehow feeling that they've made it (I sort of get that)

What will those people do when we're ALL middleclass?

It's a flexible notion anyway. People pick and choose the things which get them into the club.

[PickledCauliflower]

I'm surprised the figure is low as 60%.
But then I live in Merseyside. I'm sure I would have plenty of middle class neighbours if I lived in tunbridge wells or somewhere similar.

[MrsJayy]

We are working class im fine with that im not a chav or lower class or work shy as some like to label working class people trip over themselves to define as MC hilarious mumsnet threads Are all about mc problems

[BewtySkoolDropowt]

I think most people are working class.

Which is presumably why most people say they are.

[Ego147]

I think we should get past 'class' and think of 'tribes' - I belong to the camping in France with a BBQ, with a decent red, listening to R4 comedy on the way down tribe. Anyone care to join my tribe?

[ghostyslovesheep]

depends on your definition of 'class'

if working class means the only thing you have of value to capitalism is your ability to work - I'm surprised it's so low

If you own land which is worked or the means of production you aren't working class

I don't see anyone clambering to label themselves working class - what an odd thing to think.

I grew up on the breadline - single parent family, 1970's, Liverpool, Terrace house blah blah blah so pretty working class

Went to uni, work for social services, reads a broadsheet, own my house - so pretty middle class by some definitions - but with no power over the means of production and nothing to offer but my labour - so technically still working class thank you!

[ghostyslovesheep]

I'll join your tribe if we can sometimes listen to Radio 5 (football - see working class!)

[HolesInTheFloor]

My parents both insist they're working class as my maternal grandparents were shopkeepers and my paternal grandfather was a miner.

They don't seem to think that my mum being a professor and my dad being a GP have any relevance to the fact that they're working class.

I was privately educated but dropped out of uni. I married a very successful Oxford graduate and I'm a stay at home mum. I don't know what class I'd be. I don't consider myself educated enough to consider myself middle class but I don't work and don't need to so I'm not working class.

[HolesInTheFloor]

I'll join your tribe though ego. Can I bring gin?

[BreatheDeep]

I would consider myself middle class because it would be massively insulting to working class people for me to say I was working class. But I generally don't like a lot of other people who think they're middle class and the need for the fancy car, and the big house, and the landscaped garden etc etc. I have no real idea what makes people a certain class. But to tell you the truth I am surprised that 60% are working class because of where I live. I would say at least 60% are middle class here but that's not surprising at all. And where I live is not a representation of the rest of the country in any way. So..... Yes I'm surprised by that article but that's because I'm heavily biased by my life and surroundings.

[Tardigrade001]

I am much more surprised that people still see the need to describe themselves in class terms.

[MaliceInWonderland78]

I would consider myself middle class because it would be massively insulting to working class people for me to say I was working class.

We wouldn't give two shits. Honestly.

[NicknameUsed]

"I find that an unusual statement. The educated and successful or professional working class friends I have still see themselves as working class."

Because people we know would class us as middle class I suppose.

We own our own house outright - no mortgage, we are comfortably off, I am a member of a gym, we run 2 cars, we live within our means and don't struggle to pay our bills, OH is a professional who runs his own business, all of DD's friends think we live in a posh house (4 bedroomed detached in a naice area), we have high hopes and aspirations and believe in the benefit of a good education.

Oh, and we both vote Labour, DD goes to state school, we don't have private healthcare. So maybe we are a mixture.

I just find it patronising when people who clearly have a middle class lifestyle claim to be working class.

[BreatheDeep]

Just read the full article and it seems perhaps people now think class is to do with beliefs and opinions rather than the traditional 'social standing'. So maybe that's why it's changed.

Also agree I don't really understand why people are bothered about class. I only think I'm middle class because people who think they're working class would probably think I am (if that makes sense! Basically I don't really struggle with money or anything at the moment so I guess I can't be working class! I have no idea though). I couldn't actually care less where I fit.

[stopfuckingshoutingatme]

only in this fucking go dammed country to we define our self by this ridiculous moniker

fucks sake Theresa

I am more upset as I thought brexit was going top fade away. clearly NOT