Which "class" - Lighthearted!

[dingdongdahlia]

So, my dh is very proud of his roots and is quite happy to tell everybody and anybody about how we're a working class family. Personally, I think class is quite an outdated concept but definitely think there are some things that are still considered wc/mc/us.

I've explained to dh that it's not as clear cut anymore and while he works a blue collar job, it's as much about lifestyle nowadays as your employment.

I say to my husband he's probably closer to middle class now because of tiny little things that make up our lifestyle but he denies it vehemently. I come from a very traditionally middle class family and he says he "dragged me down" (with a cheeky smile).

So, in the most lighthearted way possible, what do you think?

Dh works a very skilled manual job, he has an element of responsibility and although he achieved his role through an apprenticeship I would say his level of knowledge is pretty close to a masters in engineering. He calls himself a spanner monkey.

I have a professional role that is traditionally a middle class career.

We own our own home in a suburb of a city in the south coast. Four bed with garage, almost paid off (we're early 30s).

We eat out at least 10x a month at naice places and stay in nice hotels frequently as a couple (disclaimer: directly linked to my job).

We shop at Ocado and local independent butchers, greengrocers etc. Christmas meat is always bought from the butcher.

We have at least one foreign holiday a year with several other UK breaks throughout the year.

We have a cleaner (he hates this but hates a messy house more).

We have a bean to carafe coffee machine.

Our kids are young but it's looking like we will potentially send them to private school for secondary.

He snowboards and skis. Trying to convince me to take the kids on a skiing holiday (I'm not keen).

We own Barbour jackets (the wax variety that don't have the logo emblazoned all over it).

He's voted Tory in the past.

Obviously this is very lighthearted and a bit of a family joke. Just wanted to see what people think.

@idrunthroughanairportforyou

You admit to being bourgeois? You might be my natural enemy but I certainly admire your honesty.

mans the barricades or rather people's the barricades to you

David beckham is working class. And proud of it.

*David Beckham has working class roots and is quite rightly proud of them.

I think the traditional definitions of class no longer work in today's society. People don't have a consistent set of class-markers throughout their lives any more. Apart from the 'upper class' (i.e. the aristocracy) it's all very fluid.

We should stop trying to define ourselves by class and concentrate instead on achieving a lifestyle that will bring happiness in itself - not because it's 'middle class' or 'working class'.

@idrunthroughanairportforyou I definitely agree. Tbh the class thing has been a bit of a sticky point with dh over the years. The majority of our disagreements over the year usually stem from him feeling a bit...jaded about people looking down his nose at him.

Personally, I was always brought up to treat everybody the same whoever they were and whatever they did. Variety is the spice of life and all that and just being nice and polite was more important than anything else.

In fact, my dh teased me when we first got together that I was posh, I've never considered myself posh in any way shape or form.

The private school thing is only being tabled because we live in a highly built up area and school class sizes are huge. I have some experience with independent schools, attended private school myself and the cost of fees/quality can vary greatly. It's something dh was very against because it was "elitist" but is coming round to as our kids grow up and wanting to provide the best for him.

*them.

@Flaxmeadow

No not really but I am one of the many people now who occupy a strange middle ground.

Education and job wise I would be lower middle class.

I would NEVER vote Tory and ideally I'm still hopeful that some socialist utopia is on the horizon!

"@Meandmetoo I actually think that's pretty accurate regarding working to sustain a life makes someone working class. I think that categorisation would probably upset a lot of people. "

It is literally the definition of working class. Puzzled why it would upset people

"think your DH is WC (and probably justifiably proud of himself) and you and the DC are MC."

I think Camomila has it right.

Class does seem to be a source of unending debate. The bit I always look for and never see is the so what? What difference does it make?

@Camomila and @unlimiteddilutingjuice that would apply to my dad as well then. From a very poor background, got into grammar and managed to (accidentally) land a career that would be deemed mc (Think Sharpe ). He often waxes lyrical about his working class background. Oh god, I've married my dad

@FinallyHere it really doesn't.

What about middle class people who aspire to be working class?
Guy richie
Jeremy Corbyn

You sound very over invested in this and I cringed at your list of how you described yourself I have to say. You care far too much imo.

@Cottonwood I cringed too

So if it doesn't matter op why the list of stuff (including owning a Barbour jacket, I've got one, as does my 70 yo mum, as do most of the lads on the council estate where I live, however it's nowhere near as good as the £30 JD sports jacket i own, more fool me!)

If youre in paid work, you're working class by default.

@idrunthroughanairportforyou

You do come across as very middle class though. Especially the swearing

I disagree that there is a 'middle ground'. Even today, in 2019. Division is becoming more geographical again I think
The 'Working Class' came from the period and areas of industrialisation. In post industrial areas this is still deeply entrenched but is obviously now less influenced by mass unionisation . Yes 40 years ago the Labour party was still seen as working class, by the working class, but now the LP percieved as a party largely of the London bourgeois.

Side note the op has bean to carafe!
Carafe is for wine what is a coffee carafe?

@Hollowvictory I've got some North American parentage. I also say garage in a strange way

Carafe of coffee isn't a thing.

Or you could say that a lot of the things you mention like eating out in naice places, shopping in Ocado, professional jobs etc are nothing at all to do with class, middle and working class people would equally do these things. I agree that it's an outdated concept - there's too much overlap these days.

My dad was a miner and I bought a house on a council estate. I will sit in the front garden because that's where the sun is. Regional accent.

But I also listen to Radio 4, voted remain, have a degree and work in a professional job, drink gin or cava, holiday abroad frequently but only in naice authentic places, never Benidorm or Magaluf.

Many of us don't fit nicely into either WC or MC boxes.

My mums got a coffee carafe I think - it's like a jug with a lid and an internal plunger/filter thing. Makes Americano type coffee.

DH and I both have key s to our parents houses, I keep mine in the key drawer, he has his on his key ring.

OUr DC don’t have their own homes yet but are at UNi/working. We make the eldest leave their key behind as they have lost too many over the years and for that reason we may keep it when they move out. It is better than changing the locks! Other DC is responsible.

Can’t tell from your description. What do you call your evening meal, the thing you sit on to watch TV and the thing you pee into? And what do your children call your mother?

Can’t tell from your description. What do you call your evening meal, the thing you sit on to watch TV and the thing you pee into? And what do your children call your mother?

Dh
Tea, sofa, toilet, nanny

Me
Dinner, settee, loo, grandma