To consider myself working class?

You are self-employed and presumably do an annual self-assessment tax return, so you must have some idea.

Haha

Yes absolutely, I felt he didn't think being MC really fit with the gritty, bohemian image he wanted to present. Ironically that is a very MC rose tinted view of WC life. The reality is free school meals, broken furniture and getting up at 6am to help deliver newspapers with your dad (or whatever side hustle was flavour of the week that week haha)

I'd consider you MC.

I consider myself to be working class but my background is MC. My Dad is from a WC background and my Mum MC. Both well educated with a couple of degrees each, both well paid professionals. Grew up in a MC area but school friends were working class. I did my A levels but foolishly opted out of Uni. Had a large house deposit gifted from parents so we bought before we married. DH from WC background in slightly above average paid job now and I work weekends in retail and a SAHM during the week.

I didn’t necessarily say it was. Many MC parents will encourage their children into stable jobs, usually in traditional MC roles such as accountant, doctor, solicitor, engineer. However, as a general rule I would say MC aren’t expecting their kids to be in NMW roles past the end of full time education. The difference is, particularly for bright WC kids, they are told to work hard and go for those jobs rather to assume they are a given. If a MC kid does end up working in a NMW role, say they aren’t academic or don’t apply themselves, it is likely that they will still see a small chunk of inheritance. It’s likely that their parents can help them with a deposit for a house (even just a small one) or offer a loan to buy a new car. So NMW if your parents can give you an interest free loan for a new car is not the same as NMW if your parents are on UC and carers allowance. Generally, both WC and MC parents are going to want their kids to be in a better financial position than they were but the motivations are going to be different.

My point is that OP has grown up MC. Her mum was educated but never had to work. Her dad was able to buy properties outright. Her family didn’t struggle financially and so she has deliberately chosen an unstable and precarious lifestyle. Nobody I know from a working class background would knowingly put themselves into that position, I watched my mum worry about struggling to pay the bills. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents because my mum had to travel for jobs that were above NMW and she still worried about money. I will be advising my daughter to get a job that pays above NMW because I don’t want her to have to worry about paying the bills or losing her house. I don’t want her to go through what I watched my mum go through. You will be advising your children to get stable, well paying jobs because it’s how you keep your wealth and pass it on. The motivations are different.

This thread reminds me of a discussion (argument) I had with a friend at uni who insisted he was working class because his parents "barely had any money left for holidays after sending all 4 kids to private school" 😂 bit of a twatty thing to say as he knew I grew up on a very rough council estate and was incredibly poor growing up

No way are you wc. The fact that you felt free to make the choices uoj have, knowing that you would be supported if needed are much documented as middle class. Its not all about income , but attitides, freedoms etc .
for example i was in the top set in a wc school.. i went to uni.. there was no way i allowed myself to choose a subject were the wage was as variable as yrs for when i left uni… it was not a psychological option that i could even begin to consider , given my background which was a wc mining community. Your choices are firmky immersed in mc security and knowledge of yr background and the innate security it has suggested to you throughout life .

I’m not usually interested in any of this but your comment resonated with me; for complicated reasons I no longer have to worry about future proofing my income. Where does that leave me on the class scale, assuming I was boringly middle class previously?

There you go. Lav/lavatory is textbook middle class.

They are connected but not synonymous

Money and social class are not connected.

@PurpleBananaSmoothie

I'm as middle class as they come and have always put steady income and future planning at the forefront of life and taught my kids the same.
The idea that MC people don't have to worry about any of that stuff is ludicrous. We do. It's one of the reasons we stay MC.

Your online voice shows your middle clas status because of what you speak about (your background and choices) and the language you use to speak about it.

Why can't someone "move down"? Because you accumulate social and cultural capital that you pass on to your children - you can't unlearn it. And, as this thread proves, claiming to be working class when you're not is treated with more derision and suspicion than the other way around, partly because the aspirational pathway for many Britons in the last hundred years has been towards the middle class.

You sound distinctly middle class to me Op. I say this as someone who grew up with both parents married (to each other) & both working 2 plus jobs to pay the bills & even then, my Nan still had to help pay for our school uniforms. We never wanted for any of the basics (food, clothes, roof over our heads) as my mum & dad worked (& worried!) their arses off to ensure we had what we needed and never went hungry but your posts reek of entitlement that no working class person would ever display.

We never had holidays or anything over & above the minimum but we were happy, healthy & safe. They also emphasised education above everything else.

I've done my best to get a degree (first person in my family) & work my arse off so that my kids don't feel the poverty or worry I felt growing up. I assume they'd class themselves as middle class. If they had the cheek to think they were anything else, I'd put them straight!

You really have no idea.

That is more a ‘posh’ thing

Some MC people wouldn’t say toilet but plenty would