Which social class am I?

[Chipandcheese]

Inspired by another thread, I'm wondering which social class other people would put me in.

I had a very working class upbringing, raised by a single parent living in a council house. Mum had no qualifications and worked as a cleaner. I attended a standard comp high school in a rough area. No guidance on studying or careers. No extra curriculars, no hobbies other than watching TV. Holidays to nearest seaside resort.

I became a single parent living in a council house myself in my early 20s. Benefit only income. Skint. Educated to A-level and dropped out of university. This made me buck my ideas up!

Fast forward to now. Still a single parent. Living in a private rented flat in a nicer area than I was raised in but not a super posh area. Educated to masters level, planning to do a PhD at some point. Qualified as a psychotherapist and have my own private practice that I run part time. I'm also about to qualify as a social worker, I'll be working full time in this job - I'm on a work-based scheme.

On paper, I've progressed and am doing much better now but due to the cost of living crisis and rent increases, I'm still skint, probably more so than when I was on benefits!

Anyway, back to the class thing. I'm absolutely working class in my background but I find that I don't fit in when I visit and interact with people where I grew up. However, I also don't feel like I fit in with middle class people either. I've still got a regional accent but this isn't as strong as it was when I was younger.

I'm effectively working class but working in traditionally middle class professions. But work is where I spend the majority of my time so does that make me more middle class?

I feel classless in that I don't think I fit into any class anymore.

I personally have more respect for people who work hard day in day out. Look after their families and friends well. Are kind, thoughtful and honest to everyone regardless of social ranking etc.

Probably why I married DH (who was a normal, nice man with manners) over some of the middle/upper class public school boys I was surrounded by. Some were really lovely but there were a lot of entitled dicks among them (sadly probably now in government or heading up daddies company 🙄 🥱)

Your last few sentences make very little sense. You yourself don’t live in the area you grew up in, you don’t have a ‘WC’ job, you don’t say where you are educating your children. I would class myself as educated WC (parents a cleaner and a bin man, very poor upbringing, large family), went to Oxford from my crap sink estate school, am an academic, don’t have a TV habit (because we didn’t have one when I was a child), am going to the opera this week, and live in a very different area to the one I grew up in. DH is similar.

Yet we have kept strong WC regional accents in our MC jobs, almost all our extended families (to whom we are close) work in blue-collar jobs like streetsweeping, refuse collection, deliveries, hospital cleaning, builder’s labourer, supermarkets, working in takeaways etc. My parents were illiterate. We’ve been supporting our parents with money since our student days. There won’t be any inheritance. Other people certainly don’t perceive us as middle-class.

I think quite a lot of people are in our position. Our architect is another educated WC person, whose sons are at boarding school, lives in a lovely old Regency house, skis, has a lot of money, was married to an MC woman, but is definitely still identifiably educated WC. (And would recognise us as that.)

Your working class

Does it matter? I don't think there should be any 'classes' - when you apply for a credit card, mortgage, passport nothing I've ever applied for has asked me what 'class' I am.

I think it's just for snooty people to feel better about themselves, all the while making less fortunate feel bad as society don't perceive them in a certain way.

At the end of the day, we are all born, and we all die. Just live a good life and be a nice person.

Oh I know. It's madness. However, on a day to day basis most people don't sit talking about it, dwelling on it etc. We're not all like the OP.

Well, no, but if you are somewhat socially mobile, like the OP, it makes itself felt rather more than if you are born and die within the exact same social banding. And of course dying is profoundly influenced by social class — I can’t remember the stats exactly, but there’s a significant gap between the life expectancy of the most and least affluent social classes in the UK.

I also notice it as my parents, DH’s parents (bottom of the WC) , and our MC/UMC/UC parents, as BT’s, uncles and older siblings are ageing (older siblings mid-60s, parents and their siblings late 70s to mid-80s). Our friends’ parents have generally far better health, because of less physically taxing jobs. While they’re announcing they’ve not going to ski any more after this year, my PILs can barely move between rooms, and my oldest SIL (63) had to take medical retirement from her job as a hospital cleaner because of plantar fasciitis and a knee replacement a year ago that hasn’t given her hoped-for relief from pain.

Health is a class issue.

Exactly. The outdated class system is hierarchical and only serves to ensure the middle & upper classes are seen as superior. They are not. It’s high time this stupid snobbish belief system died a death. We are all multifaceted individuals and not defineable by “class.”

I'm like you op but the other way round. Very middle class upbringing but I don't really fit in with mc people anymore. I haven't achieved anything career wise. I don't look middle class...I'm a bit fat and don't like mc clothing! More boohoo than white company. 😂Most people probably assume I'm working class but I don't particularly fit in there either.

It's way more nuanced than your snobbery idea as often it is the working class who are the most vocally proud of their roots

You are a Misfit which can feel quite uncomfortable.