To wonder why MN's so concerned with class

[ivykaty44]

Is it envy, is that what it boils down to pure envy of someone else and they might be doing better.

Even the cycling threads end up with class being brought into the mix.

Why is class brought into so many thread - even this one!

Read Bourdieu for enlightenment.

Defining yourself by a lack of material purchases is more upper class. The 20 year old land rover for example

Thanks for link bonsoir. Have you read Status anxiety by Alain de Boton?

The more I read here the more confused I am about what class I'm supposed to be.

There is shopping in order to acquire stuff you need and there is shopping as a leisure pursuit - the latter I always thought was frightfully common.

Stuckinthe middle. When I read your posts you sound posh

looks around messy social housing flat

Think it was all those terribly and frightfully s

The middle classes are viewed with some disdain IMO because there is a negative idea about their characteristics. Being middle class is based on income. You are not born Aristocracy to be middle class (but there is pretence by denying working class roots), you are nouveau riche which means you become middle class based on income. The middle class as a recognised social grouping did not even come about till shortly after the industrial revolution (I may have this wrong so correct me if it is) which is fairly recently. Since then the middle classes have been recognised as social climbers (especially by the aristocracy), arrogant (especially considering their working class backgrounds) and spoiled and neglectful of their 'roots', judging those who live a working class lifestyle (possibly based around insicurities of aforementioned non aristocratic background) and very selfish and self absorbed.

Thats what I think is the root of the negative idea's of the middle classes in Britain anyway. The working classes don't like them because the middle classes judge them even though they come from the same background, and the aristocracy find them threatening and to forceful in trying to assimilate into aristocratic culture IYSWIM.

Class means nothing to me. I've met idiots from across the spectrum and conversely have friends from all classes.

If a person can't see beyond education / money / whatever then tey're not worth bothering with no matter which of the classes they belong to.

Our window cleaner has more degrees than we do.
You shouldn't make the mistake to think that Britain has a class system that Western Europe doesn't. A new concept,to me, in the UK, is the speech patterns (in the south?) where the kids make a point of sounding more 'posh' than their parents.
Then there are the white kids,in London,adopting black slang.
Wha-ever.
We are just melding.

Actually you have a point...it was even raised on the BF/FF threads...

It's definitely not about how much money you have (IMO) but about manners, how you behave, education and all that. I'll be watching TOWIE tonight....loads of money being splashed around by those on the programme, but I don't think that makes them middle class by a long shot.

It's less defined now I think (the lines are more blurred) but it definitely still exists.

how was class creeping into the sports threads?

mothersancker

that certain sports are middle or working class, so foot ball, triathlon, rugby netball etc have different class of people playing the different games

I just thought and still will take part in any sport that takes my fancy or my dc's fancy and not worry what sort of class of person I need to be to take part.

have been away all afternoon taking part in sport - come back and find the first thread I click on has within the first 10 posts a class post

it was this one!

Class is not about money, how "nouveau"!

All the aristocrats I know drive cars held together with bale twine and prayer and wear clothes made in the 60s.

It's interesting.

Yep agree LeQueen, though I call it the transition class; OK we're low income but gradiates etc; boys got to a MC school, live in a MC area, have MC names (mainly, one sort of slipped through LOL) and ask for ;whatever cake they sell in Waitrose ' for their birthdays ()

I have the accent; goodness knows how but I do, as do my sisters and Mum (who was at grammar and had elocution so presumably the source). The boys have the accent. DH speaks pure yokel but I like that, reminds me of home .

I won't ever be real MC; I just am not. But boys will never be WC either.

'Class is not about money, how "nouveau"!

All the aristocrats I know drive cars held together with bale twine and prayer and wear clothes made in the 60s.'

now THAT is so bloody true LMAO!.

McMansions! Hilarious!

Dad had very working class roots...like yours was UBER clever, earning scholarships to his Grammar school and then going on to do medicine at Oxford University.
Put myself and my siblings through public/private schools..and I guess I had a very middle class up-bringing.

Not sure what I am now....

My parents have never been materialistic or showy...we didn't even have a telly until we were teenagers (and then one for the family). We didn't go on fancy holidays abroad or have posh cars and the latest gadgets...

But the house was full of books...we walked, did things as a family, ate together around the table for every meal, talked...and took an interest in the wider world...

They did their best, but we were by no means spoiled.

When I was younger being 'working class' was something that you could say with pride and certainty. The 'working class' had a clear identity, we all aspired to be 'middle class' at the same time as despising them!! And the only thing needed to cross the class divide was money. I would recommend the adrian mole/pandora relationship as a fantastic example of the working/middle class divide in the 80's!!

Nowadays we are all middle class. Because (as a society) we have more consumer power it's very difficult to distinguish between the classes. And you have people (for example) like the Beckhams or Jordan who have crossed the class divide (i.e they have lots of money) but they are still pretty 'common'.

This class confusion, and inability to neatly categorise people is unsettling for some...hence the constant reference to class.

sausages&marmalade WRT TOWIE, I seem to remember someone (Amy ?) claiming that they (the cast) were very classy! Which just goes to show how far the perception of class = money goes.