Middle class identifiers 2022

[Pullandpush]

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?

Good lord no! Tacky as.
Gravel drive and meadow flowers more like.

If fake grass had been a thing at the time, Hyacinth Bucket would have definitely had it on the front lawn.

Private education is very definitely a thing. I don't know the statistics (& can't be arsed looking them up - sorry!) but there's definitely a top tier of Irish society who went to a particular roster of private schools, generally in & around Dublin and likewise send their kids to the same schools. I went to Trinity College (nearest thing Ireland has to Oxford) and it was absolutely rammed with kids from the same ten or twelve schools. But it's sort of...not talked about? Or certainly not in the way it is here (this despite Ireland have the same levels of socio-economic inequality as the UK & an equally deprived urban under class). I think Ireland & Dublin in particular is a very small cosy world & we're just not good at rocking the boat.

LOL at the quasi-Marxist posters on this thread having their feathers ruffled.

Just a few points:

Compound, just to let you know, positive discrimination i.e. favouring WC over MC applicants' access to internships is illegal in this country. This is what you appear to be doing, it transpires from your posts. It's likely you will be legally challenged at some point in your career.

Hipsters and scooter riders are not MC. They seem to be the offspring of hard-up left wing parents who are earning a decent enough wage in heavily subsidised sectors (arts, media, charities). They are still WC but oblivious to it, they probably think they've made it because they 'read books'

The Veja wearers are a puzzling phenomenom, can't get my head around that one. Why does it have to be Veja and no other trainers will do?

I agree that some aspirational families send their kids to learn a musical instrument or do other activities but are not really interested in them at all, it's just a tick box exercise to look the part. The hobby aspect is interesting and one I had not considered before.

Thanks for explaining, I always thought Ireland was a largely classless society.. I have Irish work colleagues & it's extremely hard to pigeon hole them into a specific sector..

I don't know. I thought she was all about being seen to have the 'right thing' to fit in with the middle classes.

Also, cold water dipping is dangerous.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-61257378

@sunja

The average household income in GB is £36k

We know that only 7% of children receive private education, so either the MC is a very small pocket of the population or private education is not affordable for MC

Hipsters and scooter riders are not MC. They seem to be the offspring of hard-up left wing parents who are earning a decent enough wage in heavily subsidised sectors (arts, media, charities).

And ? So what?

They are still WC but oblivious to it, they probably think they've made it because they 'read books'

WTF ?- this thread has really descended.

that some aspirational families send their kids to learn a musical instrument or do other activities but are not really interested in them at all, it's just a tick box exercise to look the part. The hobby aspect is interesting and one I had not considered before.

Dear god. Like every MC parent who sends their kids to do anything is really interested in it themselves. 🤣

How about just thinking it's a nice opportunity for your kids and they might, ahem, like it.

It's such an interesting thread.

I'm not sure that you can determine what 'class' people are by the things they own/buy or services they employ (schooling etc).

DH and I are very much working class background. We both grew up in the industrial north and our families all work/worked in manufacturing or trades.

I feel that we are still very much working class people, despite being relatively well off now and having privately educated DD, owning a holiday home, etc., both having been at director level in large companies and now in consulting.

I'm sure that, conversely, there are many, many genuinely middle class people who are not at all well off.

Maybe our DD would be middle class because she went to private school and has parents who are "professionals"? Does that follow?

But then is it not like being upper class which I know is a case of "you either are or you aren't" and that don't suddenly become a different class? Or have I got the wrong end of the stick?

I have to say it does fascinate me, which probably makes me out to be overly invested. 😂

The Veja wearers are a puzzling phenomenom, can't get my head around that one. Why does it have to be Veja and no other trainers will do?

I didn't know about that. I think they're quite popular now? I spot a few people wearing them out and about. I have a couple of pairs now but only to wear with gym clothes. I wear different trainers for running.

Though I first spotted Veja in Sweaty Betty!

@Pipsquiggle sorry, that should have said local private school.

£36k is the national average but I do wonder what the 'MC average' would be. I imagine with two earners in a MC household no less than £100k combined. Oftentimes, one indictable earns that alone

Oh, so she’ll be a landlord then.

Hipsters and scooter riders are not MC. They seem to be the offspring of hard-up left wing parents who are earning a decent enough wage in heavily subsidised sectors (arts, media, charities).
Hipsters are more likely to be middle class in my own experience. I don't understand what a scooter rider is. Yes someone who rides a scooter, but that could be any sort of person.

Can you point out where I have indicated that I positively discriminate towards working class candidates - I’m intrigued.

Also, cold water dipping is dangerous.

Hmm, swathes of Dry Robists wiped out.

Dangerous if you do it wrong just like most things.

Anything to do with their supposed environmental credentials?

The 'social capital' angle is intriguing also and mentioned often in these types of threads.

Is there a 'desirable' social capital (vs. undesirable ) that one must make sure to acquire, and who exactly defines its constituent parts?

I think the university marker will indeed mostly drop away, I don't hear younger people talking about their degrees or 'college' (never 'uni') like we did! It's much more expected now. It might persist for Oxbridge and the most highly rated universities.
I think we could have afforded to send DC to private school but as successful products of the state system ourselves we thought they would be fine there, as they were. We prioritised and could afford expensive family holidays instead yes, ski-ing and long haul travel as hugely important breaks from our busy daily lives.
No-one is going to tick all, or even most of the MC boxes cited here. A lot of them seem to apply more to fairly young professionals in terms of taste and buying choices in paints/home decor, clothes, cars, pets etc.
Aspirational WC people could well share the same choices while older MC people might find them odd, or just fads/fashion, as others have said upthread.
I shop for clothes at both M and S and Jaeger, buy DIY stuff at Homebase (tried Little Greene paint but not impressed by the quality) and shop at Waitrose/Ocado. But sometimes at Aldi and Tesco too.
We don't own pets but used to keep chickens in the garden. 😉

No-one is going to tick all, or even most of the MC boxes cited here. A lot of them seem to apply more to fairly young professionals in terms of taste and buying choices in paints/home decor, clothes, cars, pets etc.
Aspirational WC people could well share the same choices while older MC people might find them odd, or just fads/fashion, as others have said upthread.

Yes. Some of the markers apply to say young, urbanites and then a poster comes on who is clearly much older and possibly lives in the country and poo hoos it as 'just fashion'.

Yes it's fashion, but also fashion among a certain MC type. And there will no doubt be certain things , fashion or not, that typify the 2nd poster and their age group and location.

In reality it's all a bit sad isn't it. The more unequal we become the worse outcomes for everyone, not just the poor.

The reason the Finnish are amongst the happiest country on earth is that there is no class obsession. It is a largely equal society with good outcomes for all.

We should be investing in that rather than signifiers of conspicuous consumption.

I agree, it's still fun to play spot the middle class person, but the increase in inequality is something we should all be concerned about in society.

There's never been a harder time to try to pin down this type of socio-economic class of people.

My FiL is Proper Posh. Country home, London home, separate London office. Home in France. Long line of inherited wealth, very old school, with the trappings you might imagine.

Hi great-granddaughter would fall firmly into a very different MN 'class' according to this thread. She is the direct, and very close descendent and partial heir to all that, but she ticks more 'WC' boxes on this thread than most. She would get hammered on MN for her choices of home/appearance and so on.

My point is I agree with pp: these lists of wall art, shoes on/off, cars, clothes, cocktails, fake nails/whatever, dogs, music etc. etc. are absolutely, 100% meaningless and blithely ignore the serious issues behind how our society and communities are really divided up.

Marina Fogle the instragramner (Ben Fogles wife) is the epitome of mc for me, I've recently started following & it's all horsey, outside activities complete with the required black lab...

My point is I agree with pp: these lists of wall art, shoes on/off, cars, clothes, cocktails, fake nails/whatever, dogs, music etc. etc. are absolutely, 100% meaningless and blithely ignore the serious issues behind how our society and communities are really divided up.

Agree. But by discussing one does not mean you're not aware of the other.

I've had a look. She's definitely UMC I think.