Middle class indicators 2022 part 2

[Pullandpush]

Current thread has 1000 posts so restarting.. Was asked at the end of the last thread what I would identify as & I am solidly working class due to working hard to pay our mortgage, kids in state school & having a very modest lifestyle.

What determines your “higher level / class” is…

One def. non-MC indicator (to me, anyway) that I’ve only read about on MN, is the attitude that books = clutter, so the sight of bookshelves can’t be allowed to sully a perfectly Hinched home.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER do you mean that books are a middle class indicator, or they aren't?

Do you really expect an answer to that? Are you serious?

But where will that leave their kids? Are they going to slip down the social ladder seeing as their parents work isn't as middle class as their parents?

@Cam22 it didn't read clearly to me so I asked for clarification. I didn't tag you or ask you directly so no need to be rude.

@prinnycessa I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear.
I meant that to me, anyway, books equalling clutter, and therefore banned, is a non MC indicator.

The Fogles have the wealth, lifestyle, social capital and connections associated with the UMC. Their children are also growing up with all of those things.

Their children are not going to "slip down" just because their parents aren't GPs or something.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER no need to apologise! Thanks for clarifying

Surely everybody knows, having books is desirable. Middle class people know that and so don’t have to ask.

Yes but the world is getting more global, there's no guarantee the next generation will be as lucky or successful

@Cam22 again, rudeness. From the structure of the sentence I was unsure of the point being made so I asked for clarification which was subsequently given. No need for you to get involved or be nasty

You seem to be trying to argue that the Fogles are hard to class, or that their status is somehow more precarious than the average UMC family, but that just isn't the case.

What is it about their jobs that you think would make them not UMC, or that would reduce their status?

As I've said before and I'll say again, I don't think your class slips in one generation at all. Not in the UK anyway. Indeed I'd go so far as to say it probably 'stays with you' through as many generations as your family have been that class! So you're much more 'precarious' if you've newly arrived in the MC but less so if you're 3, 4 or more generations established in that class.

I think it's because she is an insta blogger which is something you wouldn't associate with umc & he is a TV presenter

Don’t be daft. The Fogles are really posh. Didn’t his kid try to get everyone to clap for the Queen during the pandemic? You wouldn’t get anyone other than a posh kid doing that.

Agreed. The Fogles' class status is not precarious in the slightest.

Being a successful blogger is the modern equivalent of having a an opinion column in a magazine, or possibly the modern equivalent of being an 'It Girl' (remember them?) or similar.

Plenty of UMC do that sort of thing, and have done for a long time - it certainly doesn't make someone working class!

By your logic, Giles Coren is teetering on the edge of being WC (which he obvs isn't).

However, Giles Coren is possibly from a 'less established' (U)MC background that the Fogles?

I thought carpets/Persian rugs, ironing etc all came from basic pretentions ? ( Cultural observance aside).
I'e don't get my beautiful carpets dirty....

Materialistic?

Pretentions usually coming from the lower classes,the new form of "step scrubbing"??

I disagree on clapping for the Queen, plenty of lower classes adore the queen and many follow her around etc.

The people who paint their faces in the union jack flag, are you insinuating that behind the paints are people like Ben fogle?

His children are now the third generation of UMC Corens though. (Possibly more - I know ACs background was WC, but not what his wife's background was.)

The only time I’ve seen working-class kids with flags painted on their faces is for the footie. I don’t know anybody who loves the Queen. Genuinely. Mind you I live in the north and the RF mean nothing up here. I think it’s more of a southern thing. The RF are barely seen around here and when they are they fuck off in their helicopters as soon as they’re finished.

We were at my in-laws in the North East for the jubilee, and there were street parties, bunting, and all sorts of events on for it.

The regional news covered all sorts of events, large and small, across the whole area.

Well I’m in Liverpool and nobody likes the Queen here.