The British class system is fascinating, as an outsider looking in. What sort of middle class? Lower, true, or upper? City or country? Age group?
Anyway, this is based solely on my experience. I spent my teenage years around upper middle class kids in London and Surrey. General theme was private education, large detached house, parents working in the City of London or the family business, or in some cases, mothers staying at home. The kids were quite different in appearance (tattoos, piercings, hipster aesthetic running around Shoreditch and Hoxton) although there was an expectation that they would follow the footsteps of their parents. Very confident, and with the knowledge that they have the freedom to do what they feel like for the most part. That was the tribe I knew anyway, I’m aware the details are going to be different based on location, for example.
Middle middle classes are more traditional, in my experience. The lower middle aspirational, and apes the middle middle (moreso than the upper middle). Very mindful of being seen as middle class. Kids either go to grammar school, a ‘leafy comp’, or get scholarships to private school. The lower middle is not as confident as the middle middle, or the upper middle. There’s more focus on keeping up appearances and choices are studied, rather than naturally plumped for. Imo it’s the lower middle that tends to be more snobbish, wanting to be ‘as good as’ those above them in the class hierarchy, and ‘better than’ those beneath them.
New money is new money. Wears their new fortune proudly, they want to be noticed and for people to know what they have: “look at me, I’ve made it!”. My father was more this type, at least initially. He’s calmed down considerably now he’s passed the novelty stage. My mother wasn’t. She came from a ‘good’ family, even though she herself grew up in a socialist country she was still expected to behave in a way expected of her name. Insecure though, and unsure of where to fit in. Wants to fit in yet stand out at the same time.