to be suprised at how often 'class' comes up on MN?

[LeoniPoni]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that people who are 'class' aware are snobs or anything, I've just not come across so many conversations centred on it before.

I've never really had an opinion on the class system in this country since I've always had the vague idea that it was mostly a thing of the past. I thought it may be that there are people who are upper class/aristocrats - don't have to work because of inherited money, middle class/working class - people who have to work to get by (whether this is a doctor or a shop assistant) and then lower class - people who can't/don't work and can't support themselves.

This is the first time I've ever really actively gathered my thoughts on it though so I know it's bound to be a flawed way of thinking.

I've just never been made so aware of 'class' as I have been in the last few months that I've been on Mumsnet. It seems to crop up so often. Whether breasfeeding is middle class. Whether Boden is middle class. Whether saying 'hiya' is lower class.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just wondering if it's because of my age (I'm 24) or the fact I'm from a 'working class' background or is it just random that I've not come across (or maybe just not noticed) class divide?

lower working class= aldi's own make on the coffee table

Theochris here's the link to the 'hiya' is lower class thread -

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1031020-DH-s-comment

By this reckoning I'm lower class. It's a blooming minefield tis this class malarky!

tethersend

I don't have hp ds allergic - so 'I'm in a class of my own'

Hmmm better link HERE

I write thank you letters after staying as a house guest or after dinner parties. My children write them after receiving things so long as I nag them.

But I swear a lot, quite often don't clean the cat poo off my front lawn, rarely mow it, regularly forget to put my bins out so they overflow over the drive, shout audibly at the children to hurry up on school mornings, am divorced, have mutliple offspring to several men, have a live out boyfriend, work here and there, and thus:

ALL MY NEIGHBOURS think I am a brazen hussy and so far beneath them on the class scale that I may as well be down a well-shaft.

What a ridiculous topic. These things matter to no one.

Sigh.

Right. Off to make a cup of Earl Grey on the aga...

hobbgoblin sounds like you're my kinda lady!

I would say that class does crop up in every day RL in our society, it's just not spoken about so freely as it is on MN. I think as a society we make many judgements about each other and many of these are based on issues surrounding class.

class permeates everything-attitudinal beliefs,clothes,tribe we associate with,it is enacted in rl all the time.trick is to be straight up and acknowledge it,and its potential stereotypes.folk who say "i dont notice class,im class blind..." are talkin keech

we all do class

baby name thread is always worth a chortle for class in action

Agreed scottishmummy. You'd have to be living in a cave not to notice it, but what I find peculiar is when sweeping judgements are made because of it.

If the mum who was slagging off the girls who wear Ugg's was in turn slagged off for kitting her kids out in Tesco's - she'd be incensed about it.

I do feel inverted snobbery is still somewhat more acceptable and it shouldn't be.

.....a quote from my auntie (80 year old matriarch, living in , and frankly ruling, one of the roughest streets in Bristol...) about her cousin, who had moved to Bath...

'she was always a bit like that... All fishpaste, fur coat and no knickers....'

Class consciousness lives. It's fun. It's a manifestation of being alive. Of recognizing tribes, differences, similarities, and ultimately basic humanity.

I'm a common Bristolian. Who has acquired airs. And moved to Bath....before hearing my auntie's utterances.

...oh. And I really have just made Earl Grey on the aga.

Social climber? moi??

Thanks for the link Leoniponi. I feel my use of Hiya has now been justified, I can see clear water between me and those people who define class by the use of it!

Hobgoblin, thank you letters I force/forge my kids ones, but only send email or texts from me, eek that is bad I guess!

even if you lived in cave,what kinda cave?where?tenure

Well you'd have been onto upmystreet.com to check out that said cave was in an "accetable postcode" before moving there wouldn't you

Quite right SM.

Is the cave in a good catchment area?

Will you need to join the Druids to get your kids into a good pagan school?

is it a G12 cave?near good school?whats the deli like

I'll tell you what - I find this really interesting now! Particularly from the perspective that a few of you mentioned about 'tribes'. I'd never thought of it like that before.

Is it possible to change class? Or is it something that you are born with? Like being a lottery winner would not necesserily make you upper class?

what does marmite on toast say about a person's class?

Corndrinksgin I dunno about what it says about class but it say you have fab taste in food.

of course class is fluid,people can and do move.but may not wholly disassociate from class they grew up in eg may have attitudinal sympathies,empathy etc.

I think it's moe prominent on here because one wouldn't neccessarily "mix" with such a diverse group of people in RL.

I work in an organisation with predominantly middle-upper class Oxbridge types (I stick out like a sore thumb but that's for another day....). Most of my colleagues have never had any real working class friends and they really struggle to relate to anyone who isn't like them. They think they can relate, but they can't/

Equally, when I meet people I know from school and my local town (both very working class), many of them still keep the same company, not very well-off, etc. They dont have any middle class friends or even acquaintances.

Class isn't neccessarily an issue in real life because we gravitate towards and stick with those like us. Here, we're generally a broad mix (although more middle class in my opinion....).

How is class determined? Money? Occupation? Qualifications? What if someone has no qualifications or profession but inherits a shitload of cash from loaded relies?

class is huge issue in rl.determines services received,how professionals interact with you.schools kids attend

SM - I mean it's not neccessarily noticeable if you dont loook outside your own "bubble" - if that makes sense.