Middle class identifiers 2022

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I read a similar thread a few years ago & the main middle class markers were hummus, organic food, private education, boden, ski trips etc, farrow & ball..
Are these unchanged for 2022 or have the identifiers shifted?
Since the pandemic I've seen a rise in the "hipster" style MC especially the men, maybe the working from home has allowed them to relax into the unshaven, casual look which wasn't there a few years ago...
Private education seems to be on the wane but that may be due to the cost of living..
Any other main MC identifiers I missed?

I don't know what you would think about me.

I have shopping delivered sometimes Waitrose, sometimes Sainsbury's. It often includes hummus, Charlie Bigham lazy cottage pies/chillis and lots of organic stuff amongst the Waitrose own brand cat food for Fast Food Friday. But I have been known to shop at Aldi. I drive a 23 year old (classic) car as well as my daily runabout (not both at the same time, of course). I I went to a state school, but now I lecture in a Russell Group University, run a small business as a side hustle and have had a book published (not a novel). I have a few things from Boden but my go to is Zara and my bedroom is painted in Farrow and Ball, but the sitting room is Wickes Cheapo Stuff.

I've been skiing once and I hated it. Last holiday I had was Salcombe. Yes, I bought stuff from Jack Wills and Seasalt. I've bought things from Reiss, LK Bennett, The Vampire's Wife, Hobbs and Whistles. But last Saturday I bought a dress from Age Concern (it was designer though) and I am here at work in the staff room in M&S pedal pushers and a Florence and Fred top.

I think I am just a middle-class mess!

I live in an affluent area. We managed to buy at the right time 15 years ago, with the idea to renovate an older property.

In terms of the area, the only vehicles parked on the street are those of tradesmen. Gardeners, painters & decorators, cleaners, joiners etc. People round here don’t do the work themselves. A bit of an eye opener as this was the only way we could afford to renovate our property. We have a fish van that comes round every week, milk deliveries etc but it seems to be a mark of shame to have groceries delivered. It’s seen as very lazy.
Over the last two years I have seen a huge jump in electric cars. At first it was Tesla but now it’s any luxury brand but electric. I would say 60% of the cars around here are now electric.
However, these aren’t the things that mark out MC for me. Many in this area are just wealthy. They are self made who are from nearby areas. In particular, a working class city. They move here to enjoy living the lifestyle. They have privately educated their kids and now their grandkids. But their family line doesn’t seem mc either. I mean that education and community isn’t valued, because they don’t rely on those to make their money.
The indicator for me, is how connected a person is and how wide their circle is. The people described above only talk and socialise with those that they deem ‘rich’ enough or close family.

The mc people in this area are busy with charities, concerts, activity holidays, local town meetings, volunteering etc. They are extremely well connected to their local community and speak and socialise with people from all different backgrounds. They are all well educated and have family and friends scattered throughout the world.
The new mc or new rich seem very insular and don’t seem to have the ability to integrate (the complete the opposite to the established mc) They rely on external indicators of wealth for their status.

And on the plus side, these threads are always very funny as people strive to demonstrate their understanding of the stratification of UK society and their rightful place in it. If anyone is taking any of this seriously I suggest you're in the wrong place.

It often includes hummus, Charlie Bigham lazy cottage pies/chillis and lots of organic stuff amongst the Waitrose own brand cat food for Fast Food Friday.

I don't know what you would think about me.

I would think eating cat food is taking Fast Food Friday one step too far.

In my experience, the MC tend to have less children (c. 2) and enjoy a better quality of life rather than having more and less holidays, limiting children's activities etc

😹

I love threads like this.

I do think in all seriousness it's simply cultural capital that makes all the difference. Being at ease with oneself on public transport or getting a taxi, in a cinema or a theatre, at parents evening or on a night out with some parents from school. A properly middle class person is at ease with their place in the world (which is where the unflattering White Stuff outfits and unpainted nails come in). There's a reason why WC areas have the stereotype of a shiny front step and a cute front garden. WC people have more of a need to strive for a place in the world whereas truly MC people don't worry so much.

We are WC in a WC area and no one would ever ever ever dream of serving alcohol at sports day for example.

Dirty children, an old shit car, unironed clothes, a big rescue dog (that smells of dog), drinking booze before 3pm and swearing in public are probably the preserve of the MC round here. If a WC person did that they'd have let themselves go.

“Middle class identifiers” identify personality types far more than they identify social class. Some people are desperate to be part of a “group” or “tribe” and will go out of their way to try and fit into it, by buying into all the markers for that group or tribe and sticking rigidly to that group, so as not to risk censure or disapproval. There are numerous such groups or tribes within the “middle classes and within every other social class. The more disposable income you have, the more obvious you can make this, but it is not an obligatory part of being middle class, it’s just an obligatory part of being the sort of insecure person who only feels comfortable if they can make all sorts of assumptions about others based on obvious external markers and not have to take the risk of finding out, or make the effort to find out, what they are really like.

I have house shoes 🤔

Shopping habits ( including private schooling for offspring and job in high finance) do not MC make.
Your accent and your grandparents' occupation/wealth slots you nicely into appropriate class.

I love threads like these too - fascinating to hear about what posters think being middle class means, always amused by the saintly virtues the middle and uppers supposedly have. Thank you for starting it.😘

Interesting ideas upthread about truly MC being involved in their communities and having a wide social circle and missing with lots of different kids of people. I think there’s something in that.

The people I’d consider to be from a MCbackground, rather than those who’ve made money in recent years, do tend to get involved in lots of things gs with different people. They are confident enough to be on the committee for the local playgroup, or as a school governor, or in the food bank working with those who really need access to those products, or working in Citizens Advice or the Scouts. They might be involved in the social committee of their golf club, or sailing club one night and be at the Parish Council the next and volunteeering to run a parenting course in the local community hub the next. In the course of a week they might encounter loads of people of very different types and be happy to do so. They have a confidence in themselves and their place in the world. It doesn’t come from wearing certain clothes or having a certain house or car. It comes from things like knowing they’re as well educated as anyone around them, regardless of the housethey live in and job they do. It comes from having exeroeicmes and confidence to join a conversation about most topics or to talk in a small group to most people in any situation if the need arises.

It’s also about having a rather wider awareness of society. So it’s being aware that the world is bigger than your own family, and that not everyone has the same life experience as yourself. Hopefully it’s about having some kind of empathy for others and an appreciation that lots of aspects of being MC are a privilege and not everyone has those things. I guess some MC can be incredibly entitled, but part of traditional MC and perhaps a reflection of not being g quite so new into affluence, is a sense of some level of duty and responsibility towards those outside your own family rather than pure inward lookingness.

But what if it expired?!?!?

Voting Labour

@iamamother Ha- me too. It's interesting as I'm originally from a very working class midlands town but have lived in lots of very MC places- I love my M&S and Waitrose and Rituals diffusers- but I've also really enjoyed Benidorm, Butlins, a trip round Dunelm, the odd Maccy Ds - - I hate skiing , don't like holidays in Cornwall much, don't camp and prefer a slice of white Jackson's bread for a bacon sarnie to organic sourdough!!

Oh, and nodding in violent agreement with the clerics inveighing against the Rwanda scheme while conveniently forgetting the church’s non progressive stance on gay marriage

I wear dungarees, we have a regular laithwaites wine order, love nipping into Waitrose and hummus always makes an appearance in my weekly meals! Also love to throw dinner parties, nothing nicer than everyone around the table chatting into the night with the candles on and the music low with large glasses of something delicious!! We grow some vegetables and I like to garden, I am not middle-class though! What does that make me!?

There are marketing experts that do spend time figuring out exactly what purchases are markers of different socio-economic groups. I’ve found some of the market segmentation descriptions for the United States and it makes for fascinating reading.

Surely having an interest in the society you live in - which will include class - is a pretty normal and healthy thing. Humans are social animals, living in societies, which all have class structures. Also class is often implicit and complex, rather than explicit and easily defined. Therefore it’s quite an interesting topic to mull over from time to time.

I wonder though if there are particular classes that are more likely to say class is unimportant and not worth thinking about, compared to other classes?

@sunglassesonthetable hits the nail on the head. Only one or two on that list that I'd disagree with (Jo Malone candles would be replaced with 100% beeswax environmentally friendly ones)

I used to think it was if you'd been to university!

But looking at this thread I'm not middle class. 😂

And then there's the obligatory defense of only those who have no class talk about class - whilst the author seems to have forgotten they are talking about class too. It all goes around in circles, people tying themselves up in knots to defend their chosen way of life and then there are those who idolize the UC family up the road who are supposedly the salt of the earth. It's the same every time, anything expensive and new has to be nouveau, which always feels tinged with a bit of jealousy, but there's no admitting to that because you'd be happy and confident in your own skin. It's all brilliant! Keep it going - at least on Mumsnet.

@BuenaVistaAntisocialClub - I don’t see what is healthy about trying to define a social class by its external features. What do you think the purpose is of having different social classes?

Thank you, I think my three wetsuits have saved me and make me more middle class than anyone on the thread. (though to my earlier point, these are also on sale at Primark)

Not sure why Boden is seen as MC though. It screams ‘given up’ rather than MC.

Dirty children, an old shit car, unironed clothes, a big rescue dog (that smells of dog), drinking booze before 3pm and swearing in public are probably the preserve of the MC round here. If a WC person did that they'd have let themselves go.

Yep, all very much MC identifiers around here, as is being involved in every community group under the sun.