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Original poster

What defines "class" in a family?

153 replies

chatenoire · 07/08/2023 07:41

It got me thinking as my DH would be considered WC on his own (manual work low salary, GCSE), whereas I come from a more middle class (parents went to uni, I have a master's). Our joint income is just above £100k. So my assumption is that as a family we're MC.

Joint interests are going on mini breaks, a bit outdoorsy (but no camping!), the arts, but we also like going to your average indie gig.

OP posts:
DustyLee123 · 07/08/2023 07:44

Is class even a thing any more, anywhere other than MN ?

unlimiteddilutingjuice · 07/08/2023 07:44

Untill recently sociologists used to go by the husband's profession, which is crazy to think about now.
I guess the more modern way would be the profession of the main breadwinner.

determinedtomakethiswork · 07/08/2023 07:47

Surely it's a working class man married to a middle class, woman and very likely if they have children the children will grow up to be middle class.

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Families
Original poster
chatenoire · 07/08/2023 07:50

determinedtomakethiswork · 07/08/2023 07:47

Surely it's a working class man married to a middle class, woman and very likely if they have children the children will grow up to be middle class.

Then as a family we're middle class?

OP posts:
Floppyear · 07/08/2023 07:52

your question isn’t at all clear

Floppyear · 07/08/2023 07:55

Joint interests are going on mini breaks, a bit outdoorsy (but no camping!), the arts, but we also like going to your average indie gig.

so bizarre you think this is relevant

Floppyear · 07/08/2023 07:55

You don’t mention your job

geoger · 07/08/2023 07:58

Isn’t class defined by the bread one eats?
white sliced = working class
artisan organic sour dough = middle class
made by the peasants who work on your land using the wheat from your estate = upper class

Original poster
chatenoire · 07/08/2023 07:59

Interests are relevant to class (which is why I mentioned them). I'm a technical pre sales manager for a software company, but I don't get paid commission just a bonus (if that's relevant).

OP posts:
Floppyear · 07/08/2023 08:00

So very bizarre

pisspants · 07/08/2023 08:00

I think you go for the average of both parents so your family would be LMC.
I was raised fairly MC but married someone WC and wouldn't say my children are MC or WC so I think LMC makes most sense if you're going to give a class description.

Moomilk · 07/08/2023 08:01

I think your wage makes you middle class

Spidey66 · 07/08/2023 08:01

MN is obsessed with class. This is the third thread in 2 days. It doesn't seem to matter anywhere else, except maybe the Daily Wail.

LookingForFreeDoughnuts · 07/08/2023 08:17

I know someone who used Watching the English as handbook on how to be "properly" MC. So I don't think the obsession about class only exists here.

I'm not British so don't fit into the class system here, but I have observed it in action. People who believe that class has no bearing on people's lives are either being naive or disingenuous.

wigywhoo · 07/08/2023 08:19

University is not a solid indicator now every bugger goes. A lot of people who think they're middle class are actually just well
off working class - takes more than one generation to really work through.

Spidey66 · 07/08/2023 08:23

Moomilk · 07/08/2023 08:01

I think your wage makes you middle class

Rubbish.

My dad was a poorly educated, semi literate builder. I'm a nurse, my brother's a primary school teacher. My dad earned far, far more than the pair of us put together, despite us having a far superior education.

Winterday1991 · 07/08/2023 08:40

I think op just wants us to tell her/ reassure her how MC she is.

wigywhoo · 07/08/2023 08:43

Winterday1991 · 07/08/2023 08:40

I think op just wants us to tell her/ reassure her how MC she is.

🤣

Floppyear · 07/08/2023 08:44

Winterday1991 · 07/08/2023 08:40

I think op just wants us to tell her/ reassure her how MC she is.

Yes this

she sounds very unsure of herself

qlottedqream · 07/08/2023 08:44

This reply has been deleted

This poster is a previously banned troll so we've removed their threads and posts.

piglet81 · 07/08/2023 08:45

Why are so many people on MN completely obsessed with class?

Original poster
chatenoire · 07/08/2023 08:54

Winterday1991 · 07/08/2023 08:40

I think op just wants us to tell her/ reassure her how MC she is.

Oh no, not at all! At home when I was growing up we talked about it all the time, my dad read philosophy at uni and my DM history, so it did come up all the time.

According to them I've impoverished myself with my husband of choice, so don't talk to them about it all anymore.

It was such an ongoing conversation that even our nanny would join the conversation and comment she was "middle class".

OP posts:
qlottedqream · 07/08/2023 08:57

This reply has been deleted

This poster is a previously banned troll so we've removed their threads and posts.

OnaHotTinRoofNow · 07/08/2023 09:09

My advice is to tell your parents to fuck off, however I am WC :)

DH asked me to marry him in the grounds of his great grandparents house and has ancestors that were at court, top civil servants and were out there being all horribly colonial in the time of the Raj. He calls me his diamond in the rough.

I am pretty sure I may not be what his parents would have chosen and I’m also not white but they are so classy it has never been mentioned to him or me as an issue.

LittleBearPad · 07/08/2023 09:12

Your parents are snobs.

Were they the first to go to university? Were they desperate to appear middle class?

The conversations at home weren’t normal and their behaviour now is rude.