The underclass

[2781a]

Someone on a group I belong to on line. Used the word underclass I had never heard of it and had to look it up. I think its a horrible offensive word.

The business owner is middle class, but someone working for a plumber or other tradesman is working class.
The kind of work you describe like factory work still exists and includes service jobs like working in McDonalds now that manufacturing is dwindling in the UK.

But no one works for plumbers etc nowadays ime they work for themselves, self employed rather than running businesses, but I doubt many would say they were middleclass. It used to be that plumbers had apprentices but that has become expensive, minimum wage, insurance etc

I would think working class is now a misnomer because those who work at McDs probably need benefit top ups to get by so they are not really what was considered working class. Working class, miners, farm workers, expected to spend their lives in their jobs. Do McD workers stay for life?

I think it was used because "working class" implies work, and they wanted a term to describe a sector of society that did not expect to (or want to) work.

@Mariell
Don’t shy away from something that you feel offended about.
AGREE

An underclass still exists but not by the same definition as in previous era’s.

Today’s underclass may be poor in terms of disposable income but have access to health care, housing and benefits.

DEPENDS - mental healthcare is pretty non-existent unless you're actually trying to commit suicide or homicidal. Physical healthcare is patchy - good at the acute end more often but have you tried to get dental care lately?
HOUSING - are you joking? If you count living in one room in a B&B or hostel? BENEFITS are so low and so restricted with conditions that unless you have enough paid work to qualify for UC benefits would suck the life out of anyone.
Education and jobs are available but many with a deprived upbringing struggle to be high achievers.

These people (THESE PEOPLE - THAT PHRASE ENCOMPASSES EVERY JUDGEMENT I'VE EVER HEARD) were the foundation of society by working as unskilled labourers and later in factories but we no longer require many of these positions as manufacturing has gone abroad
NOT TRUE - 14% of GDP is still from manufacturing + many ancillary supply chains
and labour intensive work has been replaced with machinery and technology.
AGAIN NOT TRUE - 100k haulier vacancies anyone? Construction job vacancies , care jobs - all labour intensive

TBH I don't think you've got a clue what you're talking about and should probably avoid pontificating until you do.

"But no one works for plumbers etc nowadays ime they work for themselves, self employed rather than running businesses, but I doubt many would say they were middleclass"

It used to be said that political scientists considered them middle class as they were small business owners, but marketing people considered them working class as they would be more likely to buy a tabloid than a broadsheet newspaper.

Some tradesmen do still have assistants now, although I suppose they may be also be contracting another self-employed person.

"Working class, miners, farm workers, expected to spend their lives in their jobs. Do McD workers stay for life?"

It's rare to see older people working there so I suppose not, but they may go on to another service job, for example in retail.

On another forum I was castigated for stating that (in the eyes of my grandparents who were born during the Victorian era and continued to have Victorian views) my mother had "married down". She jilted her fiance who was a serving officer during WWII to elope with a dock worker!

Unfortunately life is not like Downton Abbey where the Earl forgives his daughter for running away with the chauffeur and subsequently welcoms the chauffeur into his family.

My grandparents would never have used frank labels like lower or under class. They used polite euphramisms like "an unfortunate marriage" "a different background" or "from a rough part of the city" to describe my father and his dirt poor parentage. Even now it is mostly academics and researchers who discuss "class" in overt terms.

"My grandparents would never have used frank labels like lower or under class. They used polite euphramisms like "an unfortunate marriage" "a different background" or "from a rough part of the city" to describe my father and his dirt poor parentage. "

What I hear people use now is 'don't have enough in common'.

Whenever I see the expression, I think of the first chapter of The Road to Wigan Pier (George Orwell). The world he describes is less than 100 years removed from ours. His description towards the end of the young woman he sees from the train is heartbreaking.

www.george-orwell.org/The_Road_to_Wigan_Pier/0.html

I first heard it in the very early 1990s, from a Daily Mail reader. Apparently there was an article in said publication about the 'underclass'.

It is horrible.

Wow, thanks for the Wigan Pier exert

His description towards the end of the young woman he sees from the train is heartbreaking

She knows that is her fate (barring unforseen accidents) for her entire life.

It does have a technical meaning in sociology and cultural studies but outside of that its mostly used as a slur. If it's in the Daily Mail its definitely used as a slur.

As others have said, it really depends on the context in which it is used, and the intent behind it.
Some people (politicians, in particular!), would have u believe that we don't have an underclass any more. But that's bollocks. We do.
There are people living in absolute poverty, with very little agency over their own lives, or societies trajectory in general. I don't think this should be ignored, so the term is useful.
However, simply pointing and naming isn't useful.
Hopefully by drawing attention to how unfair society still is, and the conditions that people are living in, and growing up in, might encourage people vote for a fairer society.
The problems of the poor will always impact the middle, and upper classes some how, so it's short sited of them to ignore it.
That being said, I think a lot of people are completely ignorant of other people's reality. Some things would be a real a shock. Would be nice if there was less of a gap in living standards. We tend to assume that everyone is middle class, and forget about the extremes, but economic disparity seems to be growing, and that's quite concerning...

We tend to assume that everyone is middle class, and forget about the extremes

Now this is strange because I'd hazard a guess anyone with an adequate education is well and truly aware.

I'd also suggest that what we might call the underclass are precisely those who are unable (thanks to circumstances which perpetuate a 'crabs in a bucket' worldview) to perceive class beyond the boundaries of 'them and us'.

I've never heard of this definition, but I think a lot of women who are caring for a disabled child can relate. On the face of it I'm middle class, have post grad qualifications, live in a naice area. The reality is that I'm stuck on benefits for as long as my ds is alive and our privately rented home is falling apart as the LL won't do any repairs, but I can't say anything as I need a house with downstairs bathroom. I fantasise about getting a low paid job just to have a sense of worth.
I'm very aware that my background has made us very privileged though. I'm able to navigate the school system for my other dc who are doing very well thankfully, and it's only me who will remain stuck with little to no social mobility.

Those saying that an underclass doesn't really exist in the UK today, well you'd never hear about them would you as by definition they have no voice, no power whatsoever.

@iloveeverykindofcat

It does have a technical meaning in sociology and cultural studies but outside of that its mostly used as a slur. If it's in the Daily Mail its definitely used as a slur.

Yes. The first time I heard the term was from a Mail reader.