Middle Class

[nancybotwinbloom]

What is middle class?

How do you know what class you are seen as or are?

Isn't it all a bit outdated now? The class thing?

Class is used to exclude and include, it’s very much a pertinent issue
Class is traditionally associated with a combination education, job and salary
IMO, English people are class obsessed it permeates most aspects of life, eg schools, accents, conspicuously comparing self and others

I think it is so weird how MN is obsessed with class.

Yup
On mn the majority of men earn six figures and are top of their game
The children are all sporty,out doorsy and have hobbies they excel at
Only thing that mn does in moderation is eat. A huuuuuge salad always makes one replete

I don't think that terms "middle class"/"working class"/"upper class" are useful for much except personal identity. There's nothing concrete to define it, and when you have one person on a council, working in a manual job with no qualifications and a low income calling themselves working class because of their current lifestyle
... and another who might have had a modest but wholly ordinary upbringing and now lives comfortably, having gone to university and working in a professional career who calls themselves working class because of their upbringing
... and someone who's lived a very comfortable life from birth and has resided for most of their life in the top few percent of earners but whose grandad was a miner and calls themselves working class because of their family background
... By that point the term is meaningless.

It is pointless isn't it.

Sorry, just remembered that you were asking about middle class! Also unhelpful as a descriptor, I think.
It's sometimes relevant to the conversation on here to mention something about your background but I think it's much more useful to say "I'm from a high income family" or "I'm from an area with low educational attainment" rather than saying that you're working or middle class, which could mean a whole range of things.

Class permeates through education,careers, health,,criminal justice
It really is a significant construct and is much studied by Sutton Trust as it is a marker for exclusion and life outcomes

@SocialAffairsAndWoodlandFolk

Sorry, just remembered that you were asking about middle class! Also unhelpful as a descriptor, I think. It's sometimes relevant to the conversation on here to mention something about your background but I think it's much more useful to say "I'm from a high income family" or "I'm from an area with low educational attainment" rather than saying that you're working or middle class, which could mean a whole range of things.

I'm from both!

When I was a child I asked my dad what does class mean. He said its to do with money. But its an old thing and there's no such thing anymore. But I think it's made a come back.

If it is a money thing I could have millions and I don't think I could be middle class its just not me.

But generally I hate the class thing it just makes me think I'm better than you type of thing.

Inequalities in those areas are absolutely significant in health/prospects/attainment but, for many (a majority of?) people, they won't be clear cut enough to separate people off into middle class or working class.

That’s simply not true

You're middle class if you went to private school and/or your kids do.

That's about 8% of the population.

That's the yard stick I use anyway!

Upper class - old money/peerage - have to be born into it/may no longer have money but you probably do/drives skodas and wears tweed/you are never really be accepted even if one day you will be queen.

Middle class - Wealthy/children in private school/high earner/professional jobs/look down a lot on nouveau riche who have taken over private schools with their 4x4's and hair extensions.

Working class - everyone else and this has huge variation from council estate to people like me who went to uni and shop in Waitrose and buy naice haim.

Most people like me, I would imagine would identify as middle class and somehow because of rising standard of living have transcended their class, but they would be mistaken. However, when you deal with class (like me) you see that its a lot of exclusionary, self conscious bollocks on one hand and a perpetuator of inequality and limited opportunities on the other.

@Cherryana Interesting, as I'm probably fairly similar to yourself, but would think of myself as lower middle class.

@LST

I think it is so weird how MN is obsessed with class.

Me too, I literally know no one who even thinks about it never mind discusses it in real life. It’s so very odd

Made worse by the bitter comments some folks make about classes they perceive as above theirs, it’s so bloody odd.

I think 'class' is just another way of excluding various types of people that you'd find undesirable.

Behaviour that gets widely condemned, yet everyone seems to do it. There must be a sociological reason for it, because if exclusion isn't done by class (the British way), it's done by income or ethnicity in other countries.

*Upper class - old money/peerage - have to be born into it/may no longer have money but you probably do/drives skodas and wears tweed/you are never really be accepted even if one day you will be queen.

Middle class - Wealthy/children in private school/high earner/professional jobs/look down a lot on nouveau riche who have taken over private schools with their 4x4's and hair extensions.

Working class - everyone else and this has huge variation from council estate to people like me who went to uni and shop in Waitrose and buy naice haim*

So what class are Labour metropolitan voters? Because they don’t support private education on the whole. Where l live are some mega posh fuck off houses with vote Labour signs outside. Who are these voters? Because they aren’t on that list!

I literally know no one who even thinks about it never mind discusses it in real life
Really? You have never asked new school parent their job? Where they went to uni? You’ve never noticed an accent? Don’t have a preference which course or job your children chose? Didn’t have a preference or discuss schools and catchments, just took what you were given